Guest Post: Craig Hamilton part 2 of 3

Craig Hamilton – My Story part 2   (Click here for Craig Hamilton Part 1)  

Bipolar Disorder effects more people around the world than many people realize. When Bipolar  makes the news , it’s usually a bad news story.

 The suicide rate in Australia is a disgrace and by simply ignoring the issue or making out that it is someone else’s problem isn’t going to get people who are suffering from a mental illness that can be treated the help they need.

In 2004  I published my story in a book called “Broken Open” with friend and journalist Neil Jameson.

 The story was more than anything a plea to society to drop the stigma associated with mental illness and make it easier for those that needed help to be able to reach out and get it.

You see, there are two groups of people in Australia:

 1.Those that believe they will never be affected by mental illness and

2.Those that are in the grip of a mental illness and struggling to deal with it

I reckon I can speak on behalf of both groups because I have been in both groups.

If you had said to me prior to 2000 , who would be the LAST person in the world who could be so badly depressed that getting out of bed in the morning was impossible and that level of depression would lead to thoughts of suicide, I would have said me. Yet there I was, in the  deepest , blackest , darkest place I have ever been in my life with basically no real hope of getting out of there.

Click here for part 3 of Craig Hamilton’s story