Why I didn’t take medication for my anxiety by John Apples
I was 16 when I first experienced social anxiety. I was on a half empty train to London when it pulled up at the last stop and then, a tsunami of passengers spilled onto the train. I panicked as I got squeezed amongst the passengers and broke into a cold sweat that drenched my entire […]
Why I choose to take medication for my mental illness
I’ve made the artwork opposite to show how my brain might look when I’m unwell with psychosis. I call these collages the ‘brain surgery series’ as to make them I take a scalpel to pictures of people in magazines! Since 1999 I’ve taken different measures of antipsychotic medication to treat psychosis or the brain explosions […]
“What soothes you?” asks Hopezine summer 2022
This pretty edition of summer 2022 Hopezine has been brought to you by students studying A-level photography at Stafford College. Its’ been inspired by Project Soothe, a citizen science project that urges participants to photograph what soothes them and to share this with others. Leah Greenaway-Lewis has been guest editor of this issue and shared […]
Biography, a poem by MJ Golias
After Elizabeth Bishop’s Visits to St. Elizabeths She was the house of Bedlam. She was the woman. She was—past—She was the moment you realize there may be no God. Facial expressions are faulty. Roots grow in the throat of that damaged woman. Voices are not modest in one’s head, ears, rib cage that stifle shifting […]
Writer Alan Hartley finds a job after discrimination
For writer Alan Hartley, rewarding work came along after some nasty incidences of discrimination: When I was first diagnosed with Paranoid Schizophrenia I was about 26 years old and my world fell apart. I had been a well paid sales representative with my own 3 bedroom semi-detached house and doing quite nicely thank you. The […]