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Reasons To Stay Alive by Matt Haig

#MentalHealthMonday – A list of Famous People who have experienced Mental Illness

By Health, Inspiration, ThinkingNo Comments

Below are a list of famous people who have experienced mental health illness (in alphabetical order and by condition):

Anxiety and depression often coexist. Bipolar is characterised by episodes of mania which can include anxiety and episodes of depression. So although many of these people could fit under more than one mental illness, I have placed them in the condition that I feel bet fits.

Anxiety

MI-Charles-Darwin

Charles Darwin, Naturalist & Geologist [Deceased] According to Amanda Green
Image From & Copyright © Wikipedia.
MI-Heath-Ledger

Heath Ledger, Actor [Deceased] According to Amanda Green
Image From & Copyright © HeathUltimate on Tumblr.
MI-Matt-Haig

Matt Haig, Author
According to his own book Reasons to Stay Alive
Image From & Copyright © Matt Haig
MI-Vincent-van-Gogh

Vincent van Gogh, Painter [Deceased] According to Brain Pickings
Image From & Copyright © Wikipedia.

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Bipolar

MI-Ben-Stiller

Ben Stiller, Comedian & Actor
According to Amanda Green
Image From & Copyright © Vulture.
MI-Britney-Spears

Britney Spears, Singer
According to Amanda Green
Image From & Copyright © Celebmafia.
MI-Carrie-Fisher

Carrie Fisher, Advocate & Actress [Deceased] According to Hannah Parkinson at The Guardian
Image From & Copyright © The Wall Street Journal.
MI-Catherine-Zeta-Jones

Catherine Zeta-Jones, Actress
According to Express
Image From & Copyright © Wikipedia.
MI-Isaac-Newton

Isaac Newton, Mathematician & Physicist [Deceased] According to Famous Bipolar People
Image From & Copyright © Wikipedia.
MI-Russell-Brand

Russell Brand, Comedian
According to Wikipedia
Image From & Copyright © Letters Live.

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Depression

MI-Abraham-Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln, Politician & Former President of the USA [Deceased] According to Amanda Green
Image From & Copyright © bio.
MI-Alanis-Morissette

Alanis Morissette, Singer
According to Amanda Green
Image From & Copyright © Alanis Morissette on Twitter.
MI-Anne-Rice

Anne Rice, Author
According to Your Dictionary
Image From & Copyright © The Daily Beast.
MI-Charles-Dickens

Charles Dickens, Writer [Deceased] According to Amanda Green
Image From & Copyright © bio.
MI-Denise-Welch

Denise Welch, Actor & Presenter
According to Denise Welch in the Mirror
Image From & Copyright © Daily Star Sunday.
MI-Dolly-Parton

Dolly Parton, Singer
According to Dolly Parton in the Mirror
Image From & Copyright © Syedammaralavi1 on Pinterest.
MI-Drew-Barrymore

Drew Barrymore, Actress
According to Caroline Bologna on The Huffington Post
Image From & Copyright © Drew Barrymore on Twitter.
MI-Emma-Thompson

Emma Thompson, Writer & Actress
According to Roya Nikkhah at The Telegraph
Image From & Copyright © Hamilton Hodell Talent Management.
MI-George-Michael

George Michael, Singer [Deceased] According to People Music
Image From & Copyright © Lynn Allaway on The Huffington Post.
MI-Harrison-Ford

Harrison Ford, Actor & Film Producer
According to living in stigma
Image From & Copyright © QUEERTY.
MI-J.K-Rowling

J.K Rowling, Author
According to The Mighty
Image From & Copyright © MTV.
MI-Jim-Carrey

Jim Carrey, Comedian & Actor
According to Mental Health Daily Blog
Image From & Copyright © AngelicView.
MI-Kylie-Minogue

Kylie Minogue, Singer
According to Amanda Green
Image From & Copyright © Mirror.
MI-Princess-Diana

Diana Mountbatten-Windsor, Princess [Deceased] According to depression-guide.com
Image From & Copyright © Dr. Rebecca Hains.
MI-Robbie-Williams

Robbie Williams, Singer
According to The Independent
Image From & Copyright © Robbie Williams Store.
MI-Robin-Williams

Robin Williams, Comedian & Actor [Deceased] According to The Independent
Image From & Copyright © DAVID LANZILAO/REDUX on Daily Beast.
MI-Ruby-Wax

Ruby Wax, Comedian, Actress & Writer
According to herself in her autobiography How Do You Want Me? and in her two books about mental health: Sane New World & Frazzled
Image From & Copyright © MindBodySpirit.co.uk.
MI-Stephen-Fry

Stephen Fry, Presenter & Writer
According to Stephen Fry himself on his blog
Image From & Copyright © Stephen Fry.
MI-Stephen-King

Stephen King, Author
According to Stephen King himself in an interview with The Guardian
Image From & Copyright © eddymarchini on Pinterest.
MI-Trisha-Goddard

Trisha Goddard, Presenter
According to Amanda Green
Image From & Copyright © Alchetron.
MI-Winston-Churchill

Winston Churchill, Politician and Former Prime Minister of the UK [Deceased] According to Paul Foley at the Black Dog Institute. Winston Churchill famously called his depression the black dog.
Image From & Copyright © ITV News.

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I know there’s loads of famous people who have experience of mental illness who are not on these lists. If you feel compelled to tell me whom I’ve missed off, please leave a comment below.

The point of this blog post is to show someone experiencing mental illness that they are not alone. That they are among the great and the good.

mental-health-focus

Last year I wrote a series of blog posts with a Mental Health Focus. You can read them here: 5 Brilliant TED Talks About Mental Health, I’ve Been One of the 1 in 4, A List of Common Conditions and Treatment & Recovery.

Write soon,

Antony



I aim for posts on this blog to be informative, educational and entertaining. If you have found this post useful or enjoyable, please consider making a contribution by Paypal:


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Monday 23 January 2017

A Review of Goals & New Experiences for 2015

By Books & Authors, Happiness & Joy, Health, Life, Thinking, TV, Online Streaming & FilmsNo Comments
goals-and-adventures-large Goals For Throughout The Year
Unticked Box Read & Review 30 books – managed to read 19 books and reviewed most of them.
Unticked Box Watch & Review 12 films – I only managed to review Jurassic World this year.
Tick Box Bullet Point See a show/gig – saw Ruby Wax Live, Wheatus Live and Nina Conti.
Unticked Box Give up smoking for good. Didn’t happen. Will make a goal for 2016.
Unticked Box Write, Edit and publish a Novella. Didn’t happen due to poor mental and physical health.
Tick Box Bullet Point Arrange & Have a Holiday. I had the adventure of a lifetime seeing two good friends get married in India (see My India Adventure Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7 & Part 8).
Unticked Box Study Something Pagan/Druid with Chrys & Simon. Didn’t happen due to my poor health.

New Experiences for 2015 by month:

January
Tick Box Bullet Point To start Writing again – my creative writing has stopped, started slowly, stopped and then slowly started again this year due to poor health. But right now, I am writing again.
Tick Box Bullet Point To write a series of blog posts with a ‘Mental Health Focus,’ publishing one a week throughout the month. Done. See Mental Health Focus: 5 Brilliant TED Talks About Mental Health, Mental Health Focus: I’ve Been One of the 1 in 4, Mental Health Focus: A List of Common Conditions & Mental Health Focus: Treatment & Recovery.

February
Unticked Box Try Yoga. Take a Yoga class. – Ha ha, didn’t happen.

March
Tick Box Bullet Point Visit a Museum. I visited World Museum Liverpool in November.

April
Unticked Box See a Sunrise. Didn’t happen. The sun rises far to early for me.
Tick Box Bullet Point Visit a new place. A city or town that I’ve never been to. Does going to India in July count? See My India Adventure Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7 & Part 8).

May
Unticked Box Celebrate my birthday. A night out to celebrate in style. Possibly in another city or town. Didn’t happen, instead I deliberately made no plans.
Unticked Box Visit a Castle or a Pagan site. Didn’t happen due to poor health.

June
Unticked Box Spend time Walking in Nature. Didn’t happen due to my poor health.
Unticked Box Take time out to celebrate Litha. Didn’t happen due to my poor health.
Tick Box Bullet Point Watch Jurassic World at the cinema.
In addition I said adios Vodafone, after a nightmare trying to upgrade and hello to Giffgaff. I also had My First Fishing Trip.

July
Tick Box Bullet Point Attend Mum’s events. Birthday, etc. I attended my mum and Ian’s wedding and mum’s birthday celebrations.
Tick Box Bullet Point Watch Minions at the cinema.
In addition I enjoyed the sunshine.

August
Unticked Box Visit Chester Zoo’s new Islands exhibit. This was something I really wanted to do this year, I just wasn’t well enough.
In addition I had a marvellous massage.

September
Unticked Box Learn to Knit. Didn’t happen.
Tick Box Bullet Point Donate to charities. I made charitable donations in November.
In addition I discovered the superb Writer Matt Haig, reading a reviewing: The Humans and Reasons to Stay Alive.

October
Unticked Box Celebrate Samhain. Didn’t happen.
I did have a magical evening at the British Musical Firework Championships in Southport.

November
Tick Box Bullet Point Take some time out to relax. I took what-I-call a Life Hiatus.

December
Unticked Box Watch Star Wars: The Force Awakens at the cinema. Didn’t happen.

Overall ill health has effected my ability to achieve my goals and have new experiences this year. In 2016, I hope for better health so that more of my goals can be achieved.

Blog soon,

Antony

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Tuesday 29 December 2015

Book Review: Reasons To Stay Alive by Matt Haig

By Amazon, Books & Authors, Health, Inspiration, Reviews, ThinkingNo Comments
reasons-to-stay-alive-matt-haig After reading the unique and brilliant novel The Humans by Matt Haig, I decided to Google him to learn more about this extradorinaiy Author.

I discovered that he had suffered with poor mental health in the past and was releasing Reasons To Stay Alive on the topic of mental health. So I immediately ordered Reasons To Stay Alive to see what he had to say on the subject.

In Reasons To Stay Alive, Haig shares his own experience of anxiety and depression, starting with a note to the reader explaining that these are his experiences and that other people might experience anxiety and depression in differing ways.

His book is split into five sections. His first is Falling where he writes about symptoms, suicide (including some of the reasons why men are more at risk of suicide) and the facts about depression and anxiety.

Throughout Reasons To Stay Alive there are little gems of good advice. In Falling for example, Haig writes about The Bank of Bad Days (see below). I have found having a Bank of Bad Days extremely useful.

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Reasons To Stay Alive, by Matt Haig, p. 52, 2015. Copyright © Matt Haig 2015.)

The second section is Landing where he writes a lot about some of his key experiences, as well as the warning signs of depression and anxiety.

The third section is Rising where Haig covers panic attacks, the importance of love, how to be there for someone with depression or anxiety and famous people that have suffered from depression and anxiety. This entire section aims to tell someone experiencing poor mental health that they are not alone.

Living is the fourth section of the book and focuses on recovery from depression and anxiety. This section covers the importance of slowing down, lists reasons to live, lists things that make Haig’s mental health worse and sometimes better.

Being is the last section of the book and gives forty pieces of advice that Haig feels are helpful.

The presentation of the book is good. It’s a small white hardback book, with small chapters (some only a page long), which because of his writing style as easy-to-read and engaging.

Reasons To Stay Alive is one of the better books written about poor mental health on the market. It is a quick and easy-to-read book that is well worth a read.

Reasons To Stay Alive is available to buy on Amazon or at all good bookshops.

Review soon,

Antony

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I aim for posts on this blog to be informative, educational and entertaining. If you have found this post useful or enjoyable, please consider making a contribution by Paypal:


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Saturday 3 October 2015
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