It is pretty widely accepted that severe mental illnesses like Bipolar or Schizophrenia have no cure, that the best one can do is manage symptoms with medication. Some even believe the same for conditions like anxiety and depression. But what if we’re wrong? What if, as the recent guidance from the World Health Organization states, focusing on recovery rather than the current model of chronicity, can offer a foundation of hope for millions, and radically redefine an industry of care?

Written in short, lyrical vignettes, buttressed by critical reflections and scientific research, my memoir Repercussions of Rain draws on my experience as an activist, a victim, and a survivor of psychiatry. Alongside the findings of the recent W.H.O report on the need for human rights based and recovery-focused care in mental health, the personal narratives revisit my childhood and life after a diagnosis of Bipolar disorder. Struggling with hearing voices and depression, stories recount the four involuntary hospitalizations in psychiatric wards, including in the days after 9/11/2001. After years grappling with the untreated trauma of hospitalization, I find myself alone, stigmatized, and near suicide. In a bid for life, I slowly build hope for the future in friendships, creativity and art-making, improvisational comedy, and a salty Tibetan Buddhist nun named Trime. Nearly 20 years after my first hospitalization, I find meaningful recovery in the Psychiatric Survivor Movement and learn to thrive as a writer, artist and activist for those in mental distress.

Labeled Bipolar at 21, I identify as a survivor of psychiatry, having suffered abuse, neglect and forced treatment. I am joined by many others fighting for the human rights of those in mental distress.

I currently works for Mad in America Foundation as Arts Editor and Social Media Manager. Mad in America is a leading voice in critical psychiatry and is run by the Pulitzer-nominated journalist and author of Anatomy of an Epidemic, Robert Whitaker. I am a consistent editorial contributor and curated a successful art show called Creativity and COIVD: Art-Making During the Pandemic. I have been interviewed on a popular mental health podcast couragously.u and have been a panelist for SoundsAbout Gallery and CTM Festival on The Auditory Experience of Psychiatry as well as a presenter at the Alternatives Conference and the National Empowerment Center.

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