Imogen
“I discovered that there were other people in similar circumstances and most importantly, no-one judged me.
I began to realise that I had limitations and that it was vital to remain on my medication so periods of wellbeing and stability started to extend substantially. Hospitalisation is now a rare occurrence.”
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I returned home to my family for Christmas for the first time in three years and entered into a stage of full-blown mania. I started to experience euphoric moods, surges of ideas, impatience, fast speech, a decreased need for sleep and a distracted mind. I paced the floor and talked at a hundred miles an hour. Someone (it may have even been me) rang my boyfriend. In the end my boyfriend’s brother (who was a surgeon) came over, took one look at me and said, ‘She’s manic. We need to get her to hospital!’
Next, I recall being at the hospital and talking to the psychiatrist. I rambled irrationally to him and was given a very strong injection. I woke up next morning in the psychiatric ward and stayed there for three months. It was during this hospitalization, in 1995, that I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at the age of 23 years.
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Unfortunately there are still some members of society who view people with a mental illness as nutcases, loonies or psychos. The media in particular tend to portray people with a mental illness as dangerous and violent rather than, more accurately, as confused and frightened.
Sonya Melbourne
A current member of the Australian Society of Authors and SCBWI, Sonya is a serious and committed author, who treats writing as a business as well as a passion.
Media
Her mother’s comment that her life was ‘filled with joy’ was what inspired author Sonya Melbourne to write a book about a lifelong struggle her mother has fought with mental illness.
Inspired Recovery will be a compilation of true stories from those diagnosed with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder, who have achieved happiness and success in their lives. In short, Inspired is about the triumph of the human spirit.
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