The Other Me
An ongoing serial about neurosis, beginning with anxiety that burgeoned through my teenage years, and grew into issues also with depression and OCD, amongst other things.
The Other Me
‘The Long Hard Fall’ iv. As my relationship with Allie deteriorated, the shadows of depression cast over the fringes of my mind. I took epic walks, and lamented my life, that I was nobody, nothing, that I wasn’t like ‘normal people’ (to whom Allie always compared me), who had jobs and security and all that, and questioned whether I ever could be. I got a referral to a work-placement agency that specialised in dealing with people with mental problems, and was assigned a case worker, Martina, who’d previously worked extensively in counselling. After several appointments, Martina said she felt I was ‘a little bit bipolar’. It wouldn’t have surprised me…
The Other Me
‘The Long Hard Fall’ iii. Allie began to doubt the rightness of her decision to divorce, worrying what the split would do to her kids. Also, her husband had been a good earner and provided a good quality of life, so that was another level of security she’d lost. The marriage, from everything she told me, sounded horrible from the first day – not that it was her fault or his fault, but just a general incompatibility, as they’d been forced into it by their parents. I suggested to her that marriages don’t have to begin in love, but it can develop throughout the journey. It sounded, though, like her…