Interview with Merryl Hammond, PhD,
Editor of Navigating Bipolar Nation and creator of Mad Like Me
Q: To start out, might you inform us a bit about your background and work, Merryl?
A: A few hundred years in the past again in South Africa the place I used to be born, I educated as a nurse, obtained a number of post-grad nursing {qualifications}, did a grasp’s in sociology and a doctorate in grownup schooling and public well being. I’ve labored as a lecturer in medical faculty, a coach of nurses in rural South Africa, and — since immigrating to Canada — a public well being advisor with Indigenous communities. I had zero psychological well being points for the primary fifty-plus years of my life…
Q: When did you first expertise bipolar dysfunction?
A: It was 2008; I used to be 51 and menopausal. Our household went via an enormous drama with of one in all our teenaged youngsters. (My husband, Rob, and I’ve 5 youngsters.) A couple of days into the disaster, BANG! One thing deep inside my mind simply snapped. Bipolar emerged like some beast from the deep. We initially thought that the primary episode I had was despair however wanting again we understand that I had in reality been hypomanic for a while earlier than that. We simply didn’t have the language and we didn’t know the indicators…
Q: Did it take a very long time so that you can get a analysis of bipolar?
A: Fortunately, no. I understand how uncommon this was, however I used to be very lucky to have a very good good friend who’s a health care provider. When she noticed me in hypomania, she instantly referred me to a clinic for evaluation. It solely took a few weeks for them to refer me to a psychiatrist who identified bipolar II and prescribed medicines used usually in bipolar dysfunction. About six months later, after the dysfunction had progressed, he revised his analysis to speedy biking bipolar I. Over a number of months, they added numerous meds and performed with dosages in a valiant try to get my bipolar underneath management. Nothing labored till — after two psychiatric hospitalizations — they lastly discovered a mixture of 5 meds that stabilized me (and nearly knocked me mindless!). Regularly, they weaned me off three of these, so now I’m gloriously secure solely taking two.
Q: In 2018, you printed a memoir referred to as Mad Like Me: Travels in Bipolar Nation. What motivated you to share your story?
A: I assumed: if I as a educated nurse had nearly no concept about bipolar and the way it derails not solely the affected individual however the entire household and social community round that individual, then how unaware and uninformed should others be, too? As nicely, I used to be decided to assist struggle the taboo and stigma that shrouds bipolar in disgrace. I learn up concerning the historical past of bipolar (previously “manic despair”) and the way affected folks have been handled traditionally and nonetheless are in the present day in underdeveloped international locations with very poor providers and assets. For instance, do you know that Hitler used “fuel buses” to journey via the countryside, rounding up and murdering folks with psychological diseases and disabilities? And that even in the present day in some international locations, people who find themselves undiagnosed and/or untreated are routinely chained up when their households can’t deal with their manic episodes? My coronary heart breaks to think about these atrocities.) All of us want to talk out for change. “We’re right here; we’re dignified human beings; we deserve respect!”
Decreasing stigma has turn into my mission. I felt that sharing my very own story would possibly assist in a small method. And once I do public talking gigs, I emphasize that “if this might occur to me, it might occur to you!” We’re every accountable for caring for our personal psychological well being; our personal mind. I say: “For those who at the moment have your psychological well being intact, please be grateful and shield it like a treasured new child child. Do all the pieces to maintain it protected: eat nicely, sleep nicely, get common train, meditate, construct a supportive social community, cut back stress… all the good things! As a result of should you cross over an imaginary pink line on the ground and find yourself with a psychological sickness like I did, it takes unspeakable effort to claw your method again to the wholesome facet of that line.”
Q: Do you have got a quote from Mad Like Me you can share with us?
Certain. Within the Prologue I say:
“Bipolar triggered me to vanish from the stage of my very own life for 2 full years. I used to be exiled, misplaced, shocked, confused and ashamed. If a number of the issues I share right here can assist you to shorten your quarantine interval in Bipolar Nation, I’ll be grateful. I’ve been there. I understand how extraordinarily scary and lonely it will get. However I’m right here to inform you that issues can get higher, and you can, piece by piece, construct a life the place bipolar now not controls you. You may tame this tiger!”
Q: And simply final yr, in 2022, you edited and printed an anthology referred to as Navigating Bipolar Nation: Private and Skilled Views on Dwelling with Bipolar Dysfunction. How did that come about?
A: The thought for the anthology emerged organically from responses to my memoir. Folks would learn Mad Like Me and call me by way of my web site to thank me for my honesty, and to share one thing of their very own experiences, whether or not as an affected individual or a caregiver. I quickly realized that there have been so many tales to share, however not everybody had the will or functionality to put in writing a full memoir. I invited contributors to share a small snippet or one side of their story, or to do an interview with me in the event that they felt overwhelmed by a clean display screen. Someplace in the course of the means of gathering tales, I made a decision to incorporate well being and different professionals as nicely, since they’re a key a part of the image. I ended up with 42 contributions divided into three sections: contributions by folks dwelling with bipolar dysfunction; our members of the family; and the professionals who work with us. I’m pleased with the outcome and hope it’ll assist many individuals coping with bipolar in a method or one other.
Q: Can you share a quick quote from the anthology with us?
A: It’s inconceivable to decide on one of many 42 contributions to spotlight: they’re all so wonderful and eye-opening in their very own methods! That is from the Preface I wrote. After explaining the three sections, I wrote:
“There’s something right here for everybody! It’s been an honor for me to edit this anthology, and it’s now an honor for me to share it with you. Could it give a small style of what it’s wish to navigate bipolar nation.”
Q: I see that you simply just like the time period “bipolar nation”…
A: Oh, so that you observed, ha-ha! Sure, I coined that phrase years in the past as a result of it actually felt to me that once I was both manic or depressed, I used to be dwelling in a complete different nation; one other world, actually! So it made sense to subtitle my memoir Travels in Bipolar Nation, and to title the anthology Navigating Bipolar Nation. And in reality, between these two books, I printed an book in 2020 referred to as COVID-19 in Bipolar Nation: Survival Suggestions for Psychological Stability in the course of the Coronavirus Pandemic. In order that’s a household of three associated books…
Q: Thanks on your time! How can folks contact you, Merryl?
A: Thanks on your curiosity in my work!
The easiest way to succeed in me is thru my web site’s contact kind at
https://www.merrylhammond.com/contact
Or you would e-mail me at data@merrylhammond.com
