A short film i made in 2011 detailing my journey to being diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and my recovery from the episode. This is an edited version of the original where i have taken out the scene about selfharm and cut down the scene where i talk about suicide to avoid any triggers.

14:24 It was 14th January 2008 when i ran away from hospital, not 18th!

Schizoaffective disorder is a combination of schizophrenia and bipolar. Here is more about the condition:
http://www.mind.org.uk/help/diagnoses...

I hope the film is coherent enough. I felt quite embarrassed at times talking on my own to the camera in public.

Reliving my experience with mental illness was also quite tough, especially going back to certain places I hadn't been to, both physically and mentally, since my breakdown.

I just wanted to do something to break the stigma that those suffering from a condition such as schizophrenia or any other mental illness unfortunately have to face. And sometimes that is more challenging than the mental illness itself.

I also wanted to give some hope to those currently living with a mental illness. Hearing from someone that recovered from their mental illness helped me immensely in my own recovery. Now I am well again, I want to try and do the same for someone else.

Follow me at   / mrjonnybenjamin  

My book 'Pill After Pillpoems from a schizophrenic mind' is out now in paperback http://bit.ly/zFDzYT and ebook http://bit.ly/xMjHie