“The urge to tell and its consequences”: women’s memoirs of schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder

Rosalind Austin is a freelance editor and writer who promotes the understanding of health issues and wellbeing. She completed an MA in English (Critical Theory) at Sussex University, leading to an MSc in Medical Humanities at King’s College London on “illness narratives”. Her doctoral research was in Durham University’s geography department – a survivor-researcher-led project investigating voice-hearing and emotions. As an active member of Durham University’s “Hearing the Voice” research team, she co-ordinated 30 semi-structured interviews with people who hear voices, recruiting largely through different mental health centres over a period of 20 months.