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Bobby Baker’s 11-Year Visual Diary

The road to catharsis & healing—

Diary Drawings: Mental Illness and Me features 711 drawings by performance artist Bobby Baker after being diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder and Breast Cancer. Read more about it on the Atlantic and you can purchase Bobby’s book through Amazon.

But even more fascinating, is the Guardian’s slideshow by Bobby Baker about her art work and her journey. Bobby baker diary audio slideshow

Hat tip: Sara Windrem—thank you!

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Linehan Talks About Her Personal Struggle With Mental Illness

Marsha Linehan—NYT

Marsha Linehan—NYT

This is a must read article about Marsha Linehan‘s struggle with mental illness. For those of you unfamiliar with Linehan’s work, she is the founder of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, possibly most effective therapeutic treatment for Borderline Personality Disorder available today.

Marsha Linehan arrived at the Institute of Living on March 9, 1961, at age 17, and quickly became the sole occupant of the seclusion room on the unit known as Thompson Two, for the most severely ill patients. The staff saw no alternative: The girl attacked herself habitually, burning her wrists with cigarettes, slashing her arms, her legs, her midsection, using any sharp object she could get her hands on…

“I was in hell,” she said. “And I made a vow: when I get out, I’m going to come back and get others out of here.”