A Can of Madness: Memoir on bipolar disorder and manic depression
- ISBN13: 9780954221829
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Product Description
Product Description “A Can of Madness does what it says in the… er can. A brilliant memoir of mania; all the pain, humour, fear and despair is chronicled here in prose of clarity and distinction. Unforgettable and important” – Stephen Fry “This book will help people to understand one of the greatest issues of our time, how to treat those who are mentally disturbed, as human beings” – Rt. Hon. Tony Benn MP “The author has done all of us a service by writing about how it feels, not just to be manic depressive, but to have a life of fraught and edgy encounters with just about everyone” – The Times Literary Supplement Description A vivid, honest and sometimes disturbing memoir about the experience of having a diagnosis of manic-depression. It was in two stages (not using a diary that i collected as it says in the Mind Press Release 2002. After i read Prozac Nation in 1998 i wrote two pages. Knowing i had something amazing to say i was paralysed for two years with the thought of writing it. Then when i was given my own flat in Vauxhall after my last hospitalisation in St Thomas’s Hospital in 2000 i wrote every day for about 12-16 weeks and got it all of my chast. From that moment i felt that i had written the book that had saved the Ecstasy generation although it turned into a mental health crusade to give other people a voice. Like other books in this genre, the author is often painfully honest about his experiences. He recounts a dizzying, dark and sometimes euphoric journey through a world of elation, despair, binge drinking, drugs, raves and psychiatric wards. As well as attempting to educate the reader, the book also provides optimism and hope, showing that it is finally possible to learn to live with, and accept, having a mental health problem. Writing A Can of Madness saved my life and alot of other people have told me that it has helped their lives. About the Author Jason Pegler is 33 and lives in London. Jason was diagnosed with manic depression in 1993 and wrote ‘A Can of Madness’ to stop other seventeen year olds going through what he went through. Graduating from Manchester University in 1998 he founded Chipmunkapublishing the mental health publisher which aims to help mental health sufferers. Pegler is a mental health activist, journalist, rapper, public speaker and consultant on anything that promotes a positive image on mental health. In 2005 Pegler won the New Statesman’s Young Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award. He is a key figure in the mental health movement. Book Extract As I was being driven off in the back of a police van in a space suit, I thought I was Donovan Bad Boy Smith being driven to a rave. I could hear music in my head and flashed back to another night at The Brunel Rooms in Swindon. The Brunel Rooms, a hard-core Mecca for druggies from Gloucester and surrounding areas in the early to mid nineties. Donovan was so hardcore when I saw him there that he’d refused to turn off his set at 3. He’d carried on until 3.30 when someone finally turned off the electricity mid flow. Talking of flows (as opposed to stable mindsets), just how the fuck do you live with a mental illness? Don’t ask me, I’m still trying to find out now. After all, it’s not something you plan, let alone something you’d ever expect to have. As we all say: it won’t happen to me. But it can. And in this case, it did. And if Hercules and Ajax couldn’t hack it, how the hell could I? Unsurprisingly, I didn’t – and that’s why I wallowed in self-pity for so long. So, do you want to know what it’s like to be crazy, mad, loopy? Well I’m about to tell you. I’m also going to tell you how it feels to be suicidal for months on end – the fate of the manic. One thing, however, is for sure: The sooner you kill mania the better. For you’re a danger to yourself and other people when you don’t know what you’re doing.
A Can of Madness: Memoir on bipolar disorder and manic depression
Geez – what is with this guy – does he think is god or something? Talk about I am the greatest. And having a mental illness is no excuse for real bad behavior. Blaming your illness for being a fight seeking red neck is pretty mean on the other folk who have mental illness.
And saving the world of mental illness and the ‘first mental health publisher’ – who is he kidding. Plenty have been trying to change the views of mental illness and publish about it too before he came along. Stop using our conditions and the likes of us pal.
Rating: 1 / 5
I need to write this response to the last review in Jason’s defense. It hurts me to hear people taking Jason’s book the wrong way.
Jason is one of the most amazing, wonderful, warm ,kind, caring, gentle and senstive people I have ever met,he is a close, trusted friend and colleague, who devotes his whole life to EMPOWERING nad HELPING others by being honest and open enough about the pain and mental anguish he suffered as a result of the violent behaviour which can be a direct manifestation of the mood swings associated with Bi Polar described in his book.
The behaviour is a direct description of some of the symptoms of this mental illness. The behaviour manifesting itself during Mental illness is NOT CAUSED BY THE PERSON WHO IS EXPERIENCING IT. IT IS NOT THE PERSON’S TRUE PERSONALITY , which is masked through the illness, and often becomes like a caged bird ready to take wing.HATE THE BEHAVIOUR, NOT THE PERSON. should be the rule of the thumb when meeting people like ourselves.
Jason is one of the bravest, caring people I have ever met and has touched and changed my life totally through his willingness to share my pain by being there for me whenever I need him, no matter how busy he is.
The NHS need to give Jason a key to the acute wards and let him loose in there for three months, then see how many people would walk out of there completely cured. I’m a walking testimony to how Jason’s positivity can cure negative thinking and heal a low self esteem . and can’t wait until the new book Curing Madness and the film Cans Of Madness comes out later next year.
Go for it Jason………….
Rating: 5 / 5
The author has achieved his aim in writing a completely honest autobiography about coping with a mental illness. This book is suitable for everybody; those who are unaware of the tremendous difficulties of living with a mental illness will find this book very shocking as well as a rewarding read.
Rating: 5 / 5
Pegler opens your eyes with his first-hand account of manic depression. A touching read, it helped me gain an understanding of the issues brought about by mental health. It was particularly moving for me as I have friends and relatives that are going through and have gone through similar experiences. I recommend it to anyone even remotely interested in the area of mental health.
Rating: 5 / 5
Very powerful, very emotional, and most of all honest book of all time. This book is worth reading!
Rating: 5 / 5
Wow — this sounds very powerful. It sounds like the kind of book I’d have to put down upon occasion, because of my not being able to deal with everything all at once. I’ve read another memoir recently about living with mental illness, “bipolar bare,” by Carlton Davis, and that’s how I dealt with it, by putting it down upon occasion and giving myself some distance. Davis’s pictures and artwork added a whole new dimension to the book (and the memoir genre, I think). You know how they say a picture is worth a thousand words? Definitely true in this case.
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