Victor's Story
“Sixty years ago, at the age of 27, I experienced depression for the first time. I went to the local GP who prescribed a strong dose of amphetamines and said ‘in two weeks, you’ll feel fine.’ Having some theoretical knowledge of those pills, I said I’d like to see a psychiatrist. He said, ‘the trouble with you, laddie, is that you’ve been watching too much television lately’.
For the next 60 years I’ve experienced recurring depressions, highs, and periods when I knew I had recovered. The only time I felt normal was in India with Osho, and at his centres in Europe. Returning to the UK, the cycle started recurring again. Twenty-five years ago I had a dark depression which took me to the local GP medical centre in Pathhead. A receptionist sat me down and said a doctor will see me as soon as he could. I was taken into his room where he must have realised what a state I was in because he said he would arrange an appointment for me. Six days later I was seen by a psychiatrist who said I was bipolar
I have periodically suffered with the depression side of bipolar, and less frequently the highs too since the diagnosis twenty-five years ago. Depressions are still hard to live through.”
