My name is Karen and I hail from Northern Ireland. I am arrogant enough to call myself a writer, though in my defence I do get paid for the little of it that I do – some articles and features, quite a bit of ghost-writing, perhaps a novel this year. I’ve won awards and everything – proper, tangible, judged-upon, trophy-type awards – aren’t I the brilliant one?! :razz:No, not exactly.

In reality, the majority of my income is presently from sickness benefits – not that that looks to be on the cards for much longer, what with the British government’s war on ‘scroungers’.

You see, I’m one of those mentals. One of those lying pieces of scum that uses an unseen and ergo fallacious illness to claim DLA and associated welfare payments from you, the long-suffering tax payer.

Except that that’s not true. I, like the vast majority of such claimants, am genuine in my suffering. I have a form of bipolar disorder (or possibly schizoaffective disorder) that is characterised mainly by comatose, crippling, dark depressions during which I can barely lift my head; marry that to dysphoric manias in which the lows are punctuated by severe anxiety, restlessness, racing thoughts and speech, flights of ideas and magical thinking; throw in a bit on the side that consists of hallucinations, delusions and paranoia; cuckold it further with a smattering of PTSD – and you get me. Or, at least, you get my illnesses, for I’d like to think there’s more to me than that.

This is a semi-anonymous blog which I intend to use to chronicle my mental health problems and other guff that comes to mind. I don’t know how it’s going to play out, but if you’re reading, then you’re welcome.

Stuff I Like

My Kindle. My iPhone. My car. Animals (all except cows [cows suck]. We have two cats). Science fiction – I’m a Babylon 5 devotee, aspiring Trekker, Firefly cultist and Whovian, not to mention being an avid reader of a variety of sci-fi novels. Black clothes. Psychology. Politics (which I simultaneously hate). Indian food. Sunshine. Dark humour. Books. Pubs. Technology and gadgets. Writing. The fact that I’m an INTP according to Ms Briggs and Ms Myers. Atheism (not Richard Dawkins fundamentalism). Intellectual discourse. Occasionally TV – Twin Peaks, Sherlock, The Wire, Life on Mars, Ashes to Ashes (in addition to the aforementioned sci-fi) and virtually any credible documentary. Swimming in a warm sea. Equal rights. Language pedantry. Psychiatry (as an academic discipline). Sleeping. Books. Cynicism and scepticism. Puerile discourse. Rock, metal and symphonic metal music. Being an only child. Feminism (not misandry). Candles. Gaming. Holidays. The pursuit of knowledge. Complaining. H P Lovecraft, of course, but not much non-Lovecraftian horror. Football. Twitter. Astronomy. Purple. Books. Nerds and geeks. Childfreedom. Short (or one word), fragmented sentences (not really).