Strange days indeed (Most peculiar, honey)...

THE WRITER'S LIFE

This week, the UK has started to dismantle the achievements of 60 years: A period of unparalleled peace in Europe, security and prosperity. Brexit is an epic act of self-harm, under a Prime Minister who has further divided an already fractured nation. And this week, I've been suffering one of the worst depressive episodes I've had in a while.

As others will testify, depressive episodes are really good at what they do: They come without warning, for no apparent reason. Sometimes they last for hours and others, for weeks. Then you never know how long it's going to be before the next one, how long that will last, or how severe it will be.

Panic attacks are like being mugged; anxiety, like being stalked; and an episode, like having all those assailants and stalkers in your head at the same time. Then they all sit there: They sit around in your brain, sipping tea and stealing your biscuits like there's no tomorrow, chatting away about your life, and never knowing when to leave. It's like a trip to a scary place; a mental place, far from home. Then you watch the departure boards, as trains and planes are announced, then cancelled. You're lost and stuck. This one's a youngster: Today is day three. Welcome to my brand of depression.

I don't have the luxury of what some might call “triggers”, any more than I have an early warning mechanism. There are always things to maintain and entertain an episode though; things which might not normally bother me, if I knew what normal was: Things like failed Amazon deliveries of my books, when their system tells me I've signed for a package, then I have a burden of proof negative, trying to persuade them that I really didn't receive my goods. And at the moment, I have an excruciating tooth ache, which is as varied in its severity and duration as any depressive episode; ergo, I'm constantly on edge about when the next attack might be launched. And my local Tesco Metro didn't have any sea bass, which is what I'd planned for dinner tonight. First world problems I know, but ones which affect me more than they should. Because they are now in the “Unknown” or “Unaccounted for” pile in my mind: Lost, with me helpless to do anything, except expect a possible resolution sometime. But not knowing when that might be causes me further anxiety.

My depression, the tooth ache, the deliveries and the unavailability of fish, all conspire to take an already low mood and systematically hammer it further into the ground. Sometimes the only thing to do is sleep, which is difficult with chronic tooth pain. So I get over-tired; a condition I once thought the preserve of fantasist parents. So I suffer insomnia. Once, drinking would have been a solution but it's a testament to my resolve that I don't lapse.

This too shall pass. And it will, as they do. And although I'll go back to simply hiding it and others will think I'm okay, I'm not. At the end of each depressive episode, you lose something; They take something out of you. Even though it's barely perceptible, after each episode, you will never feel as good as you did before. The new happiness plateau is lowered, permanently.

Of course, there are valued sympathetic friends but many of them get the other problem: That being clinically depressed can often mean you don't want to speak to anyone, because you don't know what to say. Depression can be unfathomable. Then there are still the others, who feel I brought it all on myself. My depression is deep-seated, originally triggered by a robbery at knifepoint. Then I drank as a coping mechanism and the drinking took over. Then I lost everything. I suffered many things which induced PTSD out on the road. It was a rough ride. But it was my fault in the eyes of some. And it's that which has resolved me to get rid of more of those people permanently from my life; to erase them and deny their existence. To paraphrase an old friend, who wrote recently on social media:

Because the most depressing thing of all, is Brexit: Sorry, but I'm going to find it hard to talk to or engage with those who voted for it. They're fools. I'll certainly find it hard to forgive them for what they're doing to me and my family. What they're doing to their own? Well, that's their affair. Perhaps that will change and I don't like the fact that I feel negative towards them for this. But I'll absolutely never forget it. I don't think any of them have or had any clue what they were doing, except those to whom chaos was the only desirable outcome (who are just evil - I don't know anyone like that I hope, that's the Dacres and Hopkins and Farages of this world - true scum that we don't need on the planet, let alone in this nation). But they've associated with, and driven the agenda of, howling degenerates, racists and bigots like that with their vote.

For the record: I don't stand behind it. I won't stand for it. It's the biggest act of civil stupidity I can think of in recent times, in a supposedly major world economy and state. Where once I was proud of the United Kingdom, it is no longer that: It's broken, divided, and I'm ashamed. As soon as individual EU citizenships become available, I'll be near the front of the queue. I wish Brexit hadn't happened, as much as I wish my breakdown hadn't happened. But it's happening, and I can't stop it, any more than I can end a depressive episode.

They are brilliant at metaphorically flooring you, and keeping you on edge otherwise, with paranoia and anxiety about the next attack. Previously, they've landed me in hospital when I've overdosed but this one has come with a psychosomatic condition, as they sometimes do: Uncontrollable vomiting this time, which kind of insures against keeping pills down. So I shouldn't be bothering any doctors this time: Every cloud.