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Summary

Interesting from the first sentence, Surviving Schizophrenia narrates the riveting story of one young woman’s war with insanity. It chronicles a path where biochemical intervention is not the sole factor relevant to mental illness; and, varying world views are acknowledged – religion, New Age, Pacifika, Celtic and others.The heroine’s odyssey through the psychiatric system is conveyed with irony, vividness, and grace. This exposé illustrates a world usually left in denial and fear by the larger community. Schizophrenia does not imply violent or antisocial behaviour as depicted in the general media; there is much more of that in the wider community, according to illustrious author Stephen C. Southon who offers a way into the schizophrenic world that widens our understanding, knowledge, and empathy as it also delights us with its deftness of touch.  Like Janet Frame’s Faces in the Water, this book will change the treatment of many of the mentally ill; and, Jesus Christ may be part of the ghost in the machine in a synthetic evaluation. Having suffered from schizophrenia for forty years, Stephen C. Southon sojourned from the depth of madness to the sobriety of recovery. Plagued with hallucinatory voices, hyperbolic mania, irrational phobia, and inexplicable ideas of magical influence, he entered psychiatric institutions on numerous occasions. Despite these trials, the author has never received a conviction for contravention of the law.  And schizophrenia does not necessarily imply a tendency towards violence or antisocial behaviour.After graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in Management Studies from the University of Waikato, Southon has since participated in the consumer advocacy movement for mental health services. In particular, in the 1990s, he supported The Schizophrenia Fellowship NZ (now known as Yellow Brick Road), The Aotearoa Network of Psychiatric Survivors, and Psychiatric Survivors Auckland Inc., and the Framework Trust. Today, he lives in Herne Bay, Auckland. He is a member of the social club l’Alliance Française d’Auckland Inc. and is enrolled in St Johns Theological College. He is an illustrious poet.

• Contemporary Fiction