Why Me?
...and Other Frequently Asked Questions
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About the Book
Stella Furlong knows what it feels like to be labeled bipolar and sectioned. In a chain of events that did not happen overnight, she was first sectioned while in her twenties, and then several times after. As a result, she oftentimes quietly wondered, Why me? In an inspiring, informative memoir, Stella leads others through her journey from poverty and insanity while growing up in post-war Britain to eventually pursuing an education and ripening into a cocky, funny, and happy woman. After describing in harrowing detail how she was sectioned under the Mental Health Act several times, she reveals how a lifeline in later life prompted a transformation, fresh hope, and a new way of viewing life. Included are practical tips for those battling mental health challenges, a critique of medication, and details about the importance of diet, exercise, a social life, education, meditation, and lifelong learning. Throughout her story, Stella provides living proof that it is possible to break down stigmas to attain a better quality of life. Why Me? is the true story of one woman’s personal experiences as life led her from a dysfunctional childhood into the challenges of mental illness and ultimately to embracing an incredible transformation.
About the Author
Stella Furlong has a BA (Hons) Upper 2nd. In Social Sciences from Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU), postgraduate research at York and Oxford Universities in Criminology/Deviance, an MA in Poverty Relief from Manchester Metropolitan University, a postgraduate diploma in Women’s Studies from the University of Kent at Canterbury and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a chronic mental disability in her twenties before embarking on her university career. She is now seventy six. Stella comes from a poor, rural, isolated, convent educated, background. The third of three daughters, she grew up in post War Britain, with the irony of a deprived yet privileged life through education, with all the class conflict that brings. She should have been socially mobile but the wheels fell off!