David Hamilton - The Trial

Posted by See Me, 14 October 2020

The third instalment of David Hamilton's personal story. Author of 'Mind Over! Whats the Matter?' David shares his experiences of bipolar disorder.

David's Story

I was diagnosed with bipolar at the age of 16 on the 4th February 2002. This moment of my life was one of the hardest things that I have ever went through. However, with that experience, I feel that I am a stronger person for going through it. 

Years after sustaining good routines and just driving through life I decided to park up and look back on my journey. I decided to write a book after years of mulling over it. 

My initial reason for writing the book was to make sure nobody has to go through what I went through. 

To give a good account of myself I managed to collect all of my doctors notes through months of trying to obtain them. I began to piece through them to get a good timeline of events and others views on my actions and behaviours. 

Throughout the book I have mentioned that it’s not the typical person you see in films that get sectioned into psychiatric wards. The many people I met are in everyday jobs and every walk of life. Anyone can go through a bad time. 

I released my book 18 years after my diagnosis on the 4th February 2020.

This is the third excerpt from the book that I will be sharing over the coming weeks.

The Trial

Come the summer of 2005 I was flying! I was on such I high. I had two weeks abroad with the boys for the first time. This was followed by a weekend at T in the park with school mates.

The T in the park weekend ended for me on the Sunday night by watching my favourite band Kasabian. I jumped on the first bus back home on the Sunday night to be ready to drive down the following morning for the next trial. 

The football trial was with Newcastle United and was in partnership with premier skills. Boys from all over the UK gathered to try and gain a place at Newcastle and other clubs who had scouts in attendance.

My body had taken a battering, but my mind was still racing.

Before I went on holiday the “great” idea I had was to be high as a kite for this trial, that would mean I would be ultra-confident with endless amounts of energy, and I would be able to showcase my full potential.

The trail began and as expected I was flying, smashing all the fitness tests and in charge of the ball.

As Tuesday morning hit, I had slept in, I could barely open my eyes and couldn’t move my body, the come down from the high was like a sky dive, I had hit rock bottom over-night.

I couldn’t believe it, I forced myself to get up and ready to head over to the briefing room which was in full flow. My legs were like jelly and I had the motion feeling again like I was on a boat.