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Let me explain why this portrait is a portrait of hope. The artist said he/she (hereafter she) only had 20 minutes to do it as he/she had to get down the pub. He/she says I can use this painting of hers but does not wish to be identified despite my offer of a link to his/her site. This is because of the stigma of schizophrenia. She tells me she spent the years from 1969 to 1979 in and out of "lunatic asylums". I am trying to get her story so you can read it but she describes her 10 years of paranoid schizophrenia as like living in a Stalinist state and anyone who has been forced Chlorpromazine/Largactil, Stelazine or Haloperidol I am sure will know what she means. The reason this portrait is a portrait of hope is that the artist falls into the significant proportion of sufferers of schizophrenia who recover to the point where they no longer require medication or find a happy life on it (see Prognosis section). I can vouch for that and  the artist, through the decades I have

Portrait of Hope

Clive Hathaway Travis portrait by Brent Nokes 1995

1995 Oil painting of Clive Travis by a FORMER PARANOID SCHIZOPHRENIC 

known her has remained well and seems to be able to drink with impunity (though I'm not sure what her liver thinks!). The same FORMER PARANOID SCHIZOPHRENIC took the rather good though admittedly not very pc photo of me smoking elsewhere on this site. I know this story will mean a great deal to many of you and if you, a family member or friend are now struggling in seemingly unending pain right now, there is hope. You may recover completely or, at least, you may find a drug which makes your life worth living like I have. Clive

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