You can also download a 5 part series of the book, kindly made available for educational purposes below, by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
This resource may be good for people who do not have the capacity or patience to read, and would like to experience the book.
Please feel free to download the 5 part series and share them with those you might think it would benefit.
DOWNLOAD THE AUDIO OF THE 5-PART RADIO SERIES, COURTESY OF FIRST PERSON, ABC RADIO NATIONAL, FOLLOWING.
Note: Downloads are 'Recording Copyright Australian Broadcasting Corporation'.
This radio series was run for 5 sequential days on ABC National in 2004. I have included the downloads here, because sometimes the propensity of mental illness to interfere with concentrating on reading can hamper what could be a useful tool in someones recovery.
Please feel free to download and listen to the episodes, and share the information with those who may benefit from it, or people interested to hear the story. Many thanks go to Justine Lees, of ABC, who produced this recording and has gone to great effort to make it available for people to use as a resource.
BLURB OF 'Recovered, Not Cured, a journey through schizophrenia'.
Edinburgh, 1994 I am crouching in an alleyway. They can't see me here, so for the moment I am safe. There must be hundreds of loudspeakers projecting secret messages at me, and umpteen video cameras tracking every move I make...They will tie me up, soak my feet in water and have goats lick my feet down to thebone...
Melbourne, 2003 'Nowadays I say that I am recovered, not cured. I have a job, I have my band, I have my friends and my family. I pay my taxes and do the dishes; I'm independent. A couple of pills a day keep me slightly lethargic yet 'sane'. I can live with that.'
Mental illness is common, and often devastating. In this day and age it is a treatable condition, yet many are left untreated, misunderstood. Richard McLean is one of the lucky ones. His words and pictures give us a unique and poignant insight into a hidden, internal world.
