John O'Donoghue was born in North London, of Irish parents, in the late 1950s. He first became mentally ill in the 1970s and suffered a series of breakdowns. In 1988, at the age of 30, with only three O Levels and an Elementary Swimming Cerificate, he got into the University of East Anglia, and met his wife. From 2000-2005 he was Chair of Survivors' Poetry, a national charity which publishes and promotes the work of survivors' of mental distress. He lectures in Creative Writing and lives in Brighton with his wife and four children.

'"Sectioned: A Life Interrupted" should be required reading for mental health professionals...it is as thought-provoking as it is compelling. O'Donoghue's unsentimental honesty...avoids the melodramatic, while holding unflinchingly to what is harrowing'

John O'Donoghue was born in North London, of Irish parents, in the late 1950s. He first became mentally ill in the 1970s and suffered a series of breakdowns. In 1988, at the age of 30, with only three O Levels and an Elementary Swimming Cerificate, he got into the University of East Anglia, and met his wife. From 2000-2005 he was Chair of Survivors' Poetry, a national charity which publishes and promotes the work of survivors' of mental distress. He lectures in Creative Writing and lives in Brighton with his wife and four children.

'"Sectioned: A Life Interrupted" should be required reading for mental health professionals...it is as thought-provoking as it is compelling. O'Donoghue's unsentimental honesty...avoids the melodramatic, while holding unflinchingly to what is harrowing'

John O'Donoghue was born in North London, of Irish parents, in the late 1950s. He first became mentally ill in the 1970s and suffered a series of breakdowns. In 1988, at the age of 30, with only three O Levels and an Elementary Swimming Cerificate, he got into the University of East Anglia, and met his wife. From 2000-2005 he was Chair of Survivors' Poetry, a national charity which publishes and promotes the work of survivors' of mental distress. He lectures in Creative Writing and lives in Brighton with his wife and four children.

'"Sectioned: A Life Interrupted" should be required reading for mental health professionals...it is as thought-provoking as it is compelling. O'Donoghue's unsentimental honesty...avoids the melodramatic, while holding unflinchingly to what is harrowing'