Description
Sisyphusa is an allegory of depression and the mental health
system as seen through the eyes of its main character and first
person narrator, Odis Winston. Odis is abducted from a comfortable
existence at university and taken to an institution called
'Sisyphusa'. He is told when he arrives that he is 'Weird' and that
he cannot leave until he has been 'Normalised'. He has been fitted
with an Earpiece which has a poisonous and malign voice, similar to
his own, and which begins to torment his every waking moment.
Encountering characters and situations loosely based on Homer's
Odyssey and in a dystopian style influenced by Orwell and Kafka, we
follow Odis's transformation from helpless captive to active rebel
and leader. The book is imbued with dark humour and compassion for
its characters and their struggles. It manages to be a satirical
polemic of our own times while creating an entirely new world of
"Aspirati," "Hysteria-Dominated Television (HDTV)," "I-Spy's," and
"Climbing Pills." It explores Mental Health themes surrounding
institutionalisation, dehumanisation, self-harm, stigma, suicide
and media (mis)representation.
About the Author
Michael was born in London in 1986. He had a happy childhood,
growing up in a loving home with his parents and older brother. He
always liked school but was equally occupied with enjoying life
with his friends and family and continuing his lifelong romance
with Arsenal Football Club. After A-Levels, Michael travelled
around India, Southeast Asia and Australasia for 6 months before
attending the University of Sussex. He felt in his element being at
university and living in Brighton. He was growing, working hard and
making wonderful friendships.
However, halfway through his second year of university, in
February 2007, he had a very sudden and unexpected onset of what
was later diagnosed as Anxiety and Clinical Depression and later
still with a form of OCD. Within the space of a week he went from
being a very confident and successful student to being unable to
leave the house that he was living in with friends in Brighton.
Michael had to move back home to hisparents' house in London where
he has remained ever since.
He has had various talking therapies and medications over the
four years he has been unwell, some of which have been very
helpful, others distinctly unhelpful. He began to read avidly after
the first year of almost catatonic depression. He has also tried to
learn Spanish and Portuguese and has taken up the piano. He wrote
Sisyphusa over the course of around eighteen months initially
inspired by a strange dream and by the anger he felt after
attending a psychiatric day hospital for six months.
Michael has felt a stark rupture in the way in which he has
experienced life before and after his breakdown. He is no longer as
housebound as he was in the first couple of years, thanks in large
part to his Cocker Spaniel puppy Milo who demands constant walks
and attention. He has fewer crises, and with the help of his family
and caregivers he has learned more effective ways of managing his
symptoms. Nevertheless, his situation remains very limited as
hefeels unable to work or to resume his formal studies, nor does he
feel able to be in contact with former friends from school and
university or most of his wider family.But he's pleased to be able
to share his work with a wider audience and to add his voice to the
many thousands fighting against the stigma surrounding mental
illness.
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