Bryony Gordon
Author of Mad Girl
Works by Bryony Gordon
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Reviews
The writing style makes this an easy and funny read. I enjoyed it and what Bryony has been through is quite shocking. She seems self aware of the tropes that surround writing about mental illness but unfortunately her story fits them all, so while this was an interesting insight into the life of someone with OCD, it's isn't a new one.
We begin by hearing about how she's not one of those crazy people with a messed up childhood. No, she's perfectly normal thank you very much. Then bam, mental illness strikes out of the blue. I felt this stigmatised people who have been through trauma which caused mental illness, and tried to paint a picture of mental illness that appeals to the masses. That tells me this book wasn't really for me.
The support she gets from her family is astounding and this is not something a lot of people with mental illness can count on. Her mother realising what is going on, taking her to the doctor, helping her insist on being seen immediately is almost too good to be true. Then being able to see a therapist almost immediately is a privilege available to only a few.
While Bryony acknowledges some the privilege she has, unfortunately she hasn't had the experience to be able to shed much light on how shocking mental health treatment in this country actually is. I'm tired of reading rich and privileged people's experiences of mental health.… (more)
We begin by hearing about how she's not one of those crazy people with a messed up childhood. No, she's perfectly normal thank you very much. Then bam, mental illness strikes out of the blue. I felt this stigmatised people who have been through trauma which caused mental illness, and tried to paint a picture of mental illness that appeals to the masses. That tells me this book wasn't really for me.
The support she gets from her family is astounding and this is not something a lot of people with mental illness can count on. Her mother realising what is going on, taking her to the doctor, helping her insist on being seen immediately is almost too good to be true. Then being able to see a therapist almost immediately is a privilege available to only a few.
While Bryony acknowledges some the privilege she has, unfortunately she hasn't had the experience to be able to shed much light on how shocking mental health treatment in this country actually is. I'm tired of reading rich and privileged people's experiences of mental health.… (more)
An eye-opening confession.
Bryony Gordon is on a mission; she is determined to get mental health issues out into the open so they can be discussed and accepted. Having suffered with OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) for many years, along with the other conditions it has caused, Bryony recognises that the default position is to brush such issues under the carpet where they breed and fester. She believes that bringing them out into the open will allow people to receive treatment before things go seriously downhill.
Bryony Gordon is a popular columnist for Britain's Sunday Telegraph newspaper, which enables her to get her book recognised where a lesser name, with the same problems, might struggle.
She admits that even she has hidden her problems wherever possible. Developing OCD at the age of 12, she went on to suffer from Bulimia, Alopecia, Depression, Alcoholism and drug dependency - yet her first book, The Wrong Knickers, made no mention of these issues. Now in her thirties, married with a young daughter, she has written a revealing memoir that she hopes will help other sufferers to recognise and treat their conditions.
For me, there were some eye-openers, particularly that OCD could be quite so debilitating. Not just a matter of double checking that the house is locked, but repeating mantras to protect her family and even bringing the iron to work in her handbag to be sure it wasn't still on.
The episodes of heavy drinking were upsetting to read, but the way she fell so easily into drug dependency was frankly shocking. Now as a young mum she must be worried that her daughter doesn't go the same way.
The book is typically self depreciating, written in a very British style, with humour and honesty. I think this is its niche market. Our book group are not all British and it wasn't as well received as its Amazon star ratings might suggest. The author is coming to our Literary Festival in March and it will be interesting to see how she is received.… (more)
Bryony Gordon is on a mission; she is determined to get mental health issues out into the open so they can be discussed and accepted. Having suffered with OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) for many years, along with the other conditions it has caused, Bryony recognises that the default position is to brush such issues under the carpet where they breed and fester. She believes that bringing them out into the open will allow people to receive treatment before things go seriously downhill.
Bryony Gordon is a popular columnist for Britain's Sunday Telegraph newspaper, which enables her to get her book recognised where a lesser name, with the same problems, might struggle.
She admits that even she has hidden her problems wherever possible. Developing OCD at the age of 12, she went on to suffer from Bulimia, Alopecia, Depression, Alcoholism and drug dependency - yet her first book, The Wrong Knickers, made no mention of these issues. Now in her thirties, married with a young daughter, she has written a revealing memoir that she hopes will help other sufferers to recognise and treat their conditions.
For me, there were some eye-openers, particularly that OCD could be quite so debilitating. Not just a matter of double checking that the house is locked, but repeating mantras to protect her family and even bringing the iron to work in her handbag to be sure it wasn't still on.
The episodes of heavy drinking were upsetting to read, but the way she fell so easily into drug dependency was frankly shocking. Now as a young mum she must be worried that her daughter doesn't go the same way.
The book is typically self depreciating, written in a very British style, with humour and honesty. I think this is its niche market. Our book group are not all British and it wasn't as well received as its Amazon star ratings might suggest. The author is coming to our Literary Festival in March and it will be interesting to see how she is received.… (more)
Went to see the author at an event at Hay on Wye Festival and loved the whole premise of the book - Bryony sold the book in the session with great ease.
Refreshing to have a humourous, poignant 'not so happily ever after' story of a girl in her twenties - revealing that even after a shocking decade that you can still get it together and be 'normal' (whatever that is..)
Several laugh out loud moments and many that are cringe worthy that I am sure most people can relate to but not admit in public - A black and white confession of a not so rosy social life of a single girl. My only criticism is possibly that Bryony was a little harsh on herself in places for her actions - should have given herself a little break from self loathing and embraced the trashy :)
A brave, refreshing memoir and one that the book world (and me!) were crying out for.… (more)
Refreshing to have a humourous, poignant 'not so happily ever after' story of a girl in her twenties - revealing that even after a shocking decade that you can still get it together and be 'normal' (whatever that is..)
Several laugh out loud moments and many that are cringe worthy that I am sure most people can relate to but not admit in public - A black and white confession of a not so rosy social life of a single girl. My only criticism is possibly that Bryony was a little harsh on herself in places for her actions - should have given herself a little break from self loathing and embraced the trashy :)
A brave, refreshing memoir and one that the book world (and me!) were crying out for.… (more)
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Statistics
- Works
- 8
- Members
- 223
- Popularity
- #100,550
- Rating
- 3.7
- Reviews
- 6
- ISBNs
- 23
It certainly got me thinking about mental health and how generalisable advice about it can reasonably be. [b:The Anxiety Sisters' Survival Guide: Manage Worry, Panic, and Fear and Become Hopeful, Connected, and (Anxiously) Happy|57341776|The Anxiety Sisters' Survival Guide Manage Worry, Panic, and Fear and Become Hopeful, Connected, and (Anxiously) Happy|Abbe Greenberg|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1616479598l/57341776._SX50_.jpg|89747092] tried to cover every possible anxiety symptom and treatment option, which became quite overwhelming. By contrast, Gordon seeks to distil her own mental health struggles into lessons that are broad, hopeful, and universally applicable. This is more effective in some chapters than others, I think. I did wonder what audience she was writing for. Those who, like her, have been dealing with mental illness for years will have heard all this many times before, so perhaps it is directed at people experiencing mental health problems for the first time or wanting to support someone suffering from them. While the basic advice is not new, Gordon delivers it succinctly and well: sleep, breathe, eat, exercise, don't doomscroll, etc. She does not pretend that any of this is easy and has a whole chapter on asking for help. Usefully, this includes the NHS treatment pathways (in England, at least).
I found Gordon's stance on mindfulness refreshing. I'm highly ambivalent about it, after more than a year of daily mindfulness meditation that, if anything, made me more anxious. Probably I was doing it wrong back then, but just sitting still, looking inside your mind, and dwelling upon everything wrong in there for ten minutes isn't great. As she puts it, mindfulness is good for mental wellness without being a treatment for mental illness. It may also work better if you have a less visual imagination than me. Another point I appreciated is that your illness does not want you to get well. Gordon personifies her OCD as Jareth the goblin king to achieve some sense of separation from it. This bit struck me as insightful:
I was less impressed with the Boiler Theory and repetition of 'get out of your own way' (how??). Also, the anxious should keep in mind that Gordon’s list of worries in chapter five may give you new ideas for things to worry about. On the other hand, 'what other people think of you is none of your business' is a great point. I find that being an introvert helps with not caring about other people's perceptions (other than people I love). The same chapter raises the interesting question of self-acceptance and self-awareness. Gordon is adamant that you should accept yourself, not try to please others, and 'learn that a healthy relationship is one in which you love each other unconditionally'. This made me wonder to what extent self-acceptance is possible when mental illness stops you from seeing yourself clearly. What version of yourself are you accepting? Moreover, unconditional love and self-acceptance could conflict with the importance of boundaries, emphasised in the prior section. I'm a little uncomfortable with absolute self-acceptance: we live in a society and should be willing to see flaws in ourselves. This section could maybe do with a bit more nuance.
The chapter on helping others makes some good points about small acts of service, writing to your MP, or volunteering if you can. Gordon also suggests that you can participate in mental health activism simply by 'sharing your own story' on social media. I'm much more dubious about this peculiar neoliberal idea that individual stories create systemic change - really? It also presupposes that everyone's experience of mental illness has a coherent narrative structure, which I highly doubt. Most importantly, why should it be anyone else's business? Perhaps it's the shyness and introversion, but I'm not comfortable sharing a lot of personal details of my mental health with total strangers. While for some this may be a positive experience, social media is often a toxic, adversarial, corporate hellhole. I'd be inclined to caution on this front.
Finally, to the topic I chose the book for in the first place: mental health in lockdown. In the introduction Gordon comments:
While calling them superpowers is making a lot of virtue out of necessity, I agree that prior experience of mental illness meant approaching lockdown with coping mechanisms (good and bad!) that could be shared with others who'd never needed them before. I was still in academia when the pandemic began and it was useful having some mental wellness tips to share with anxious students. In the final chapter, though, Gordon looks at her subsequent experience of the pandemic and acknowledges that her mental health has deteriorated. Obviously it has been an immensely stressful, even traumatic, period calculated to cause recurrence of mental illnesses. This makes for a sombre ending. In an effort to be hopeful, the final pages consist of a list of motivational slogans summarising the prior chapters. As the rest of this nit-picky review might suggest, I'm not hugely keen on such sloganeering. 'There is no such thing as normal' is one I find especially tricky. Without an understanding of baseline normality, how can we identify and treat mental illness? While it doesn't help to beat yourself up for not being normal, surely attempts to work on your mental health are about trying to get your brain to behave more normally? And although normality can encompass a broad range of experiences, doesn't denying its existence make mental illness even more isolating? To me it has a rather fatalistic ring. Then again, that could be the anxiety talking.… (more)