… a professor of law and medicine from California whose new book, The Center Cannot Hold: a Memoir Of My Schizophrenia, is just coming out. She answers 13 questions for BBC’s Ouch website. Here’s an excerpt:

I want to ban …

War and violence, and in terms of the psychiatric sector I’d like to ban mechanical restraint. This is where people are left tied spread-eagled on a bed for hours and even days. This doesn’t happen so much in the UK as it does in America.

Not a lot of people know that I …

Well, until recently they didn’t know that I have schizophrenia. My friends were surprised, but my husband wasn’t. I always managed to appear normal and healthy. I can’t help what I think but I can help what I say, and sometimes when I throw myself into reading or work, it takes me away from my symptoms.

The best piece of advice I would pass on is …

Come to know your illness or disability, so that you can see the early warning signs and take appropriate steps.

If I could turn off the schizophrenia …

I would in a heartbeat. It would give me the chance of a life without those kinds of struggles. In the last part of my book, I talk about how if there was a magic pill I would take it. I quote Rilke: “Don’t take my devils away or my angels may flee”. Things are pretty good now, but at my worst the devils were there and the angels were all gone.

How do you continue to function when things are tough?

There are five key things which have helped me to keep going. Psychoanalysis, medication, close family and friends who know me, a penchant for hard work, and eventually coming to terms with having the illness and needing therapy.

An earlier story is here.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 20th, 2007 at 6:50 pm and is filed under abuse, books, mental health, personal stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.