A Bipolar Life Well-Lived

It never dawned on me that I was getting ill, but what was happening to me was very real. Living in a world of make-believe, I was convinced my imaginary visions were genuine. I had delusions of grandeur, thinking I was all-powerful and the centre of everything. But I was not a monster; I was a lost soul. My story involves a struggle with mania and depression in the context of my life in England and France. How, despite my handicap, I held down a job abroad for 8 years and how, after 8 years of marriage to a Frenchman, I supported my daughter as a single parent. My memoir gives insight into living with mental illness. It is an autobiography concerned with memories of childhood, adolescence and adulthood.

At three years old, in 1962 Samantha and her family relocated from Belfast to the south of England. She achieved a BA Honours degree in Philosophy and French in 1981. Thereafter she lived in Provence teaching English at a nuclear research centre for eight years. In the advanced stages of pregnancy, she sought refuge with her mother and father who helped her to establish a new life as a mother, a single parent, and a part-time teacher. Since her second year at university when Samantha suffered a near fatal traffic accident, her health deteriorated significantly, and she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

In recent years Samantha has been closely involved in caring for her elderly parents. She is now a loving mother and grandmother.