Have we really made progress re: mental illness
The tragic suicide of popular actor Robin Williams has puzzled a lot of people. Mental illness is not a disease or disorder that society in general understands, let alone recognizes. There are some who...
View ArticleClik here to view.
British football in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s.
I have always been an avid supporter of Sheffield Wednesday, a British football club that is known, if at all, in North America for its quirky name rather than on field successes. I always have a...
View ArticleMainstreet Interview
I was so thrilled to sit down and chat with CBC Mainstreet’s host Karen Mair this week about Starting to Frame.
View ArticleClik here to view.
Thoughts on my book launch
To simply say that the recent (Nov 14) launch of my new book “Starting to Frame” was a huge success would be doing a disservice to all the planning and emotions that lay behind it. Following advice...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Marketing my book: a labor of love
Especially when an author self-publishes, as I have done, writing the book is just the beginning. First, there is the need to select a cover, page style and formatting software for it. In my case, I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Divorce in the 1960s: UK
When I write or talk about my memoir “Starting to Frame” I refer to my parents’ divorce as one of the “stigmas” of the day. My parents separated in 1961. Their divorce was culminated a year or so...
View ArticleClik here to view.
INSOMNIA AND DEPRESSION: MY PERSONAL STRUGGLE
I wonder how many people really understand the meaning of the term “depression.” In everyday parlance, people use it as a synonym for melancholia, usually a temporary state of mind linked to some...
View ArticleClik here to view.
DEPRESSION: DRUG WITHDRAWAL
I am a drug addict. I am not part of the recreational drug scene. Those drugs–speed, crystal meth, cocaine, heroin and its countless variants–hold no allure for me. During the giddy ‘60s, I did take a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
WITHDRAWAL FROM ELAVIL: ON PARADISE ISLAND?
“The dirtiest little secret of all is the fact that antidepressants are among the most difficult drugs to taper off from, more so than alcohol and opiates.” (Kelly Brogan, M.D. 2016. A Mind of your...
View ArticleClik here to view.
THE DREAMER
To die, to sleep–to sleep, perchance to dream…(Hamlet) “Roger. Wake up. You’re having a bad dream.” My wife, Alison, is shaking me to snap me out of yet another episode of sleep paralysis. My eyes are...
View Article
