Steve is one of the tiny number of friends I messaged from psychiatric hospital, worried that I’d never hear from them again.
(Who would want to be friends with me?, I thought. What a loser!)
Steve (pictured, and later Martin and Will) came to visit me at once, straight from work.
(I still have friends!)
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If you have just stumbled on this post, you might think: what the heck.
Well, I’ve just published a book, A Speccy Man Has A Breakdown, documenting how it felt to be overcome by depression, and admit myself to hospital.
Among the people there with me were individuals from the military, advertising, HR, law, accountancy, banking and aviation. And lots of students.
I made approximately 300 drawings while I was there, hoping to make sense of what was happening to me. Many of those drawings are in the book – including this one based on a selfie with Steve, that first night.
Depression can involve a huge amount of self-hatred (did for me anyway), and isn’t absolutely guaranteed to make you a lot of fun to be around.
Friends who seem to like you anyway can make a huge difference.
Thank you for being there, Steve.