Former top equestrian prospect from Aylesbury Vale releases book celebrating his triumph over depression

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He was a national junior champion

I am a former gold medallist in equestrianism from Tetchwick near Waddesdon. I have suffered from depression and bipolar disorder for two decades. miraculously I have made a full recovery. I did this by breaking free of the traditional psychiatric drugs and freeing myself. I had my thyroid stabilised and then underwent an enormous journey of self-study and wrote it all down for other people.

Tipped for the Olympic Games, a twenty-year old golden boy, potential equestrian superstar, with the world at my feet, I landslide into depression, was hospitalised with suicidal ideation and mania multiple times, medicated to the eyeballs, I spent years in bed as a prisoner behind shut curtains, witnesses every gift and achievement crumble to distinction; every possession get scattered to the four winds, and every relationship annihilated and smashed to smithereens. Two decades of brutal and relentless suffering ensued.

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How does one not only survive this torment but recover, reconcile with it, and reclaim their life? How does one even endure it?

Thomas RobinsonThomas Robinson
Thomas Robinson

Well, what I, Tom Robinson, did was undertake a death-defying voyage of persistence, resilience, and determination combined with ruthless self-analysis to become my own therapist and ultimately my greatest advocate. By studying psychology to degree level, qualifying as an NLP practitioner, and unpicking to the foundations of the bedrock of my unconscious mind, I freed myself from the horrors of psychiatric wards and chains of pernicious medications by analysing the root causes of my descent into madness, painstakingly piecing back together the shattered ‘jigsaw’ of my life.

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But if this sounds extraordinary, perhaps the most profound and important message is not simply the ‘survival against the odds’ but the enormous turnaround in perspective which I experienced since my recovery. For how is it that one could get to the point where they could say that they were in fact grateful for the opportunity that brutal suffering offered them and for the profound change it induced?

Poems of Awakening; Through Hardships to the Stars, is a deep dive through 20 years of treatment for severe bipolar disorder in poetry. It is the first book of several which will be released under my middle names Edwin Charles.Not only does this book provide people with so much more than the ‘surface’ information they are currently receiving in relation to mental ‘health’, it is also laced with humour through the change in perspective one receives when they have cheated death. This book delves into the contentions of psychiatry, the confusion, and the (often conflicting) advice from professionals, but with the message of forgiveness and hope intertwined.

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Poems of Awakening; Through Hardships to the Stars, by Edwin CharlesPoems of Awakening; Through Hardships to the Stars, by Edwin Charles
Poems of Awakening; Through Hardships to the Stars, by Edwin Charles

It would appeal to those who want a more comprehensive and exhaustive account of mental suffering and want to know how to survive it.

It is my greatest wish that this book should land in the hands of those who so desperately need it.

The book can be found on Amazon in paperback and eBook versions by clicking here.

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