Bitter Medicine

By Clem Martini and Olivier Martini

In 1976, Ben Martini was diagnosed with schizophrenia. A decade later, his brother Olivier was told he had the same disease. For the past thirty years the Martini family has struggled to comprehend and cope with a devastating illness, frustrated by a health care system lacking in resources and empathy, the imperfect science of medication, and the strain of mental illness on familial relationships. Throughout it all, Olivier, an accomplished visual artist, drew. His sketches, comic strips, and portraits document his experience with, and capture the essence of, this all too frequently misunderstood disease. In Bitter Medicine, Olivier’s poignant graphic narrative runs alongside and communicates with a written account of the past three decades by his younger brother, award-winning author and playwright Clem Martini. The result is a layered family memoir that faces head-on the stigma attached to mental illness. Shot through with wry humour and unapologetic in its politics, Bitter Medicine is the story of the Martini family, a polemical and poetic portrait of illness, and a vital and timely call for action.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Freehand Books
• Release date: Mar 15, 2010
• ISBN: 9781460400159

Clem Martini

Clem Martini is an award-winning playwright, screenwriter and novelist based in Calgary, Alberta. His popular trilogy for young adults, The Crow Chronicles, has been distributed widely and translated into six languages. His textbook on playwriting, The Blunt Playwright, is used in classes at universities and colleges across the country and he presently chairs the Department of Drama at the University of Calgary.

Book preview

Cover: Bitter medicine: A graphic memoir of mental illness, by Clem Martini and Olivier Martini.

Bitter Medicine

A Graphic Memoir of Mental Illness

Clem Martini and Olivier Martini

Freehand Books logo.

Copyright © 2010

Clem Martini and Olivier Martini

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical—including photocopying, recording, taping, or through the use of information storage and retrieval systems—without prior written permission of the publisher or, in the case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright), One Yonge Street, Suite 1900, Toronto, ON, Canada, M5E 1E5.

Freehand Books gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for its publishing program. ¶ Freehand Books gratefully acknowledges the financial support for its publishing program provided by the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund.

Logo: Canada Council for the Arts. Logo: conseil des Arts du Canada

Edited by Melanie Little

Cover and interior design by Natalie Olsen,

www.kisscutdesign.com

Freehand Books logo.

Freehand Books

515, 1st Street SW

Calgary, Alberta T2P 1N3

www.freehand-books.com

Book orders:

UTP Distribution

5201 Dufferin Street Toronto, Ontario M3H 5T8

Telephone: [phone]

Fax: [phone]

[e-mail]

utpdistribution.com

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Martin, Clem, 1956–

Bitter medicine: a graphic memoir of mental illness / Clem Martini and Olivier Martini

Includes bibliographic references.

ISBN 978-1-55111-928-1 (print)

ISBN 978-1-4604-0015-9 (epub)

1. Martini, Ben—Mental health.

2. Martini, Olivier—Mental health.

3. Schizophrenics—Family relationships.

4. Mental health services—Alberta.

5. Schizophrenics—Canada—Biography.

I. Martini, Olivier

II. Title.

RC514.M359 2010 616.89'800922 C2009-907035-9

A drawing of four children, a mother and a father, all wearing glasses. They have a dog with them and the sun shines down on them.

To our family: immediate, extended, alive, and dead.

And to all those who live and struggle with mental illness.

Contents

Foreword

Introduction

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Interlude

Part Six

Part Seven

Part Eight

Epilogue

Acknowledgements

Notes

Additional Sources

Cover Page

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication Page

Contents Page

Foreword Page

Introduction

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Interlude

Part Six

Part Seven

Part Eight

Epilogue

Acknowledgements

Notes

Additional Sources

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

37

38

39

40

41

42

43

44

45

46

47

48

49

50

51

52

53

54

55

56

57

58

59

60

61

62

63

64

65

66

67

68

69

70

71

72

73

74

75

76

77

78

79

80

81

82

83

84

85

86

87

88

89

90

91

92

93

94

95

96

97

98

99

100

101

102

103

104

105

106

107

108

109

110

111

112

113

114

115

116

117

118

119

120

121

122

123

124

125

126

127

128

129

130

131

132

133

134

135

136

137

138

139

140

141

142

143

144

145

146

147

148

149

150

151

152

153

154

155

156

157

158

159

160

161

162

163

164

165

166

167

168

169

170

171

172

173

174

175

176

177

178

179

180

181

182

183

184

185

186

187

188

189

190

191

192

193

194

195

196

197

198

199

200

201

202

203

204

205

206

207

208

209

210

211

212

213

214

215

216

217

218

219

220

221

222

223

224

225

226

227

228

229

230

231

232

233

234

235

236

237

238

239

240

241

242

243

244

245

246

247

248

249

250

251

252

253

254

255

256

257

258

259

260

261

262

263

264

Guide

Cover Page

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication Page

Contents Page

Foreword Page

Start of Content

Epilogue

Acknowledgements

Notes

Additional Sources

Foreword

Bitter Medicine: A Graphic Memoir of Mental Illness graphically and artistically captures the fears and frustrations that all too often accompany the devastation caused by schizophrenia for those living with the illness and their family members. Clem and Olivier Martini make one of the strongest and most compelling cases that I have ever encountered as to how we as a society have failed those with mental illness.

The last major transformation of the mental health system was deinstitutionalization during the 1960s and 1970s; as Clem and Olivier illustrate, it was a colossal failure. Mental health services remain underfunded, and there is little social or political will to redress that imbalance. As the Martini family knows so well, this affects countless individuals and their families who must live with second-rate, third-rate, or no psychiatric care at all. Furthermore, the stigma attached to mental illness and the resulting social exclusion prevents many of those affected from even seeking treatment in the first place.

However, it is within our power to change the current situation. We have learned a lot from those living with severe mental illness about what helps and hinders them in regaining their quality of life, and it is widely accepted that recovery-oriented mental health services can address the failures of deinstitutionalization. These services aim to facilitate active self-management of psychiatric disorders, as well as the reclamation and maintenance of a positive sense of self, roles, and life beyond the mental health system based upon hope, personal empowerment, respect, self-determination, and connection with community supports and services. One in one hundred people will experience some form of schizophrenia. Our hope is that, with increased awareness and expanded professional and community support systems, most will learn to live beyond the limitations of schizophrenia. But they cannot do it alone.

From an experiential, ethical, and social justice perspective, Bitter Medicine’s clarion call is that we can and must do a much better job as a society in addressing the needs of those living with mental illness. Canada is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, with a pool of knowledge about the various services and supports that can successfully treat mental illness. To choose not to provide or fund the necessary mental health services becomes a social injustice issue.

Bitter Medicine is not just the story of a personal journey, but of one of the greatest social justice issues of our time.

Chris Summerville is the CEO of the Schizophrenia Society of Canada, the executive director of the Manitoba Schizophrenia Society, and a board member of the Mental Health Commission of Canada, established in 2007. With his own personal experiences of mental illness, he is also a family member.

Two men stand on a hill.

Introduction

A lot has been written about mental illness from a clinical perspective, but very little attempts to truly understand the experience from within and across a family. In Bitter Medicine, my brother Olivier and I have tried to do that: to generate some kind of understanding by tossing questions back and forth and chewing them over, me with words, my brother with drawings. It’s been more than three decades since our younger brother was first diagnosed. I imagine we’ve spent the better part of those past thirty years, each in our own manner, reviewing and chewing.

Many of the remembrances raised and discussed in this process were awkward, painful, and private, things we often would have preferred to avoid or ignore. I hope that in writing and drawing our way through this, we’ve managed to capture some element of the truth.

A parallel world exists beyond the one we normally operate in. This is the story of how my family entered that other dimension and has never been able to fully return.

Clem Martini and Olivier Martini

Calgary, Alberta, July 2009

A family of five and a dog stand beside a car.

Part One

The biggest thing to understand is that we were nothing remarkable.

We were four skinny boys with bad haircuts growing up in a tiny grey house perched near the foothills. The town we lived in was small and, in the summer months, laden with dust. There were only gravel roads then, and one lonely street lamp down at the end of the corner that flickered

Reviews for Bitter Medicine

[pamelaamyotte3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Bitter Medicine A graphic Novel of Mental IllnessBy: Clem Martini, and Olivier MartiniAwards: n/aBitter Medicine describes a family’s 30 year struggle with schizophrenia. The drawings are the simplest I have ever seen in a graphic novel, but the text grabs at your heart and it doesn’t let go. The story describes the families’ frustration at the lack of resources, lack of medication, and lack of understanding from everyone around them. It goes on to describe how Canada’s health care system fails at delivering a basic level of healthcare for those suffering from mental illness. The whole story is written by Clem Martini who has had 2 brothers struggle with schizophrenia. The illustrations are drawn by Olivier Martini who also has his input on what it’s like living with this mental illness. The book will pull on your heart strings, and will make you sympathize with this struggling family. I give this novel 5 out of 5 stars, and I would recommend it for ages 13 and up. I would also give it to teachers who are teaching psychology at a high school level.

[birdbrian-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I hate to speak indelicately about a delicate subject, but many books and films about mental illness resemble one another to the point of seeming formulaic. Maybe that’s a testament to their accuracy; they all document a similar experience. Reflecting on [book:One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest|332613], [book:Girl Interrupted|68783] and [book:I Never Promised You a Rose Garden|45220], the following list represents what I have come to expect from mental illness literature:1) A surprisingly-relatable protagonist who describes his/her disease in the first person, in surprisingly-relatable terms.2) A tour of a hospital inpatient psych ward, with introductions to various other patients, who inevitably range from mildly- sometimes comically- off-kilter to profoundly debilitated, some of whom act as cautionary tales about how badly things can end.3) Usually a “good” doctor/nurse/attendant, who shows the positive side of the healthcare system, and a “bad” doctor/etc who illustrates the negative.4) Some sort of resolution or therapeutic breakthrough which allows the story to end with a sense of a completed plotThat list looks callous, but it’s also about right. Bitter Medicine breaks from this pattern, and actually brings something new to the table. It is a nonfictional account of Oliver (“Liv” ) Martini’s struggle with schizophrenia from 1986-2010 (the publication date). Although Oliver himself provides illustrations, the text is entirely authored by his younger brother, Clem, who doesn’t always understand what Oliver is experiencing, but makes an earnest attempt to document it objectively. He’s a devoted brother who goes to great lengths to support Liv, but is frequently unsure what he should do. When Liv first experiences paranoia -imagining he is being followed by masked figures- it is painful for Clem to ask him to seek help. Ten years prior, their youngest brother Ben had similar delusions, but he committed suicide before he could get any substantial treatment. That experience left the Martini family with a lot of guilt, fear and uncertainty, which understandably surfaces in this story several times. Most of the narration follows Liv in and out of therapy, and details his difficulty finding work when he isn’t hospitalized. Little is said about the psych wards he frequently checks into. Much more attention is paid to the side effects of his medications (muscle spasms, poor balance, slurred speech, blackouts, weight gain). Those are real-life issues that other books never seem to touch on, but they can be a great concern to long-term psych patients. Another real-life issue is how Liv’s disease affects the family. Clem doesn’t sugarcoat the fact that Liv’s condition probably pushed his parents’ already-problematic marriage beyond its limits. He doesn’t blame Liv for the disease, but he does show the enormous demands schizophrenia makes on family members of the afflicted. Living with Oliver through trials with ineffective therapies, or trials of medications with intolerable side effects, through periods of unemployment… these all require a lot of cooperation, communication and understanding. Lacking those skills was a proximal cause of his parents’ divorce. That’s a tough message to deliver diplomatically, but it sounds credible coming from Clem. Instead of being bitter about it, though, Clem also cites ways his family benefited from the experience. Now that’s something new. Liv and his father had always been distant, but the disease did somehow bring them together. The father was the most outwardly shaken by Ben’s suicide, and when Oliver was diagnosed with schizophrenia, his father reached out in a way that surprised everybody. Likewise, there are instances where the brothers come together in ways they otherwise wouldn’t have. This isn’t being Pollyanna; Clem admits the disease takes more than it gives, but insists there are silver linings to be found, if you’re looking for them. That’s an unusual perspective for this kind of book.It’s also refreshing that there aren’t really any white-hat or black-hat doctor figures in this story. In fact, the doctors are hardly mentioned at all. There is however, a long discussion about how under funded/undermanned hospital-based and community psychiatric services are, and how many of the mentally ill are consequentially homeless or in prison. I was surprised to hear this, since the Martinis are living in Canada, where I assumed social services and community-based outpatient therapy was better. Apparently not.The last third of the book follows Oliver’s attempts -eventually successful- to qualify for a trial regimen of a then-new drug (clozapine), which he responds to remarkably well. At the end, the Martini family sees Oliver spontaneously smiling for the first time in twenty-five years. The smile is a much-needed sign of encouragement to a family desperately in need of one, but it isn’t a Hollywood resolution like I put on my list above. Clem makes it clear that schizophrenia is never cured and gone forever.If this subject holds interest for you, I highly recommend this book. There is a realism here which I have not seen surpassed in this genre.