David was a bipolar disorder sufferer. He tried to bring meaning to his life by becoming an activist for others who also suffered from mental health disability. His journey had ended, leaving my daughters and me to cope with the living nightmare of dealing with the loss of a much-loved son and brother.
In David’s eyes his activist work did not succeed. One night I woke from the recurring dream of his long fall with the thought that the solution might be for our family to write a book which would enable David to achieve in death what he had failed to accomplish in life.
With every event recaptured, every conversation recalled and every struggle within two mental health systems (South African and British) reconstructed, a bigger story emerged from the one we thought we knew. It is a surprisingly hopeful one: that there are alternative ways of meeting the challenge of mental illness that put the patient at the centre of their treatment. David’s downward spiral from cheerful bar-mitzvah boy whose future seemed so bright, to long-term detainee in psychiatric wards, was not inevitable.
Writing TOO DIFFICULT TO EXPLAIN has been a remarkable journey for the Stolper family and has enabled us to come to terms with the impossible.
All net sales proceeds will be donated to mental health charities
advertisement