Acts of Defiance – Paperback

The Fall and Rise of Lindy Kato – a three part tragedy with a happy ending.

This trilogy had to be written to give voice to those whose lives have been turned upside down in the name of mental health services.

After being shoved from a moving train in 1979 and refusing to return to her London office job, Lindy resorts to nursing. Desperate Times describes psych nurse training through the 1980s British health system when the Thatcher government was intent on closing the old Victorian asylums in favour of ‘care in the community’ – which didn’t exist.

It’s fast paced, funny, educational and at times exhilarating. Until it isn’t. An uptick in tragic personal and world events as well as occupational disasters sees Lindy (now in New Zealand), immured in a hammock and refusing drinks in order to lessen the bother of getting up to pee (Bleak Expectations).

Her training taught her that a broken mind is fixed by chemical intervention. She has faith that her colleagues will find the medication to fix her, but misdiagnosis, mistreatment and ultimately a kidnapping at the hands of the health service only make matters worse. Being gaslit by a psychiatrist over the alleged abduction guarantees a permanent slot in her memory, an official enquiry and a load of paperwork, but no resolution.

Lindy creates a mask of competence to face the world while disintegrating behind it. A new psychiatrist initially seems the same as the others, until he too can see that something isn’t quite right. The new guy sets out to find a diagnosis that will fit Lindy as well as the all-important dropdown box. By now, Lindy doesn’t care.

This isn’t a story about recrimination and rage, though goodness knows there are people who needed punching out. But it is anger that finally provokes Lindy to ditch the mental health services and set a path to recapture a life she believes has been stolen. There’s a mountain that’s been on her mind since the age of seven, and then the ultimate challenge – how to train for an Ironman when you swim like a rock (Acts of Defiance).