Nobody I’ve been locked up with in a psychiatric hospital felt ‘proud’ of their illness

‘I find it hard to understand how that level of illness has become entwined with mindfulness, mental-health days and self-care.’ Composite: Levente Bodo/Getty Images

In the 12 years since I was diagnosed as manic depressive – now commonly referred to as bipolar type one – mental illness has come roaring out of the woods.

Now it’s hard to get through a month without a mental health awareness campaign rearing its well-meaning head.