Am I Abnormal?

The inspirational memoir of how Yorkshire-born Darryl Cunningham overcame extreme mental health issues to become one of the UK’s most beloved and successful graphic novelists

Darryl Cunningham’s youth was overshadowed by fear: fear of others, fear of judgement, fear of humiliation. Social anxiety disorder (SAD) made any normal life more or less impossible, and saw him hospitalized in psychiatric care twice before the age of 20. But one passion, first glimpsed in childhood and fully revealed when most needed, now provided a glimmer of hope: art.

From the man behind such insightful graphic novels as Psychiatric Tales (Blank Slate Books, 2010) and How to Fake a Moon Landing (Abrams, 2013), Am I Abnormal? is an intensely personal testimony to the true nature of social anxiety disorder. Sharing lived experiences of psychiatric care in the 1970s and ‘80s, this unique memoir shines a light on the isolating aspects of a debilitating condition and demonstrates the simple act of making art as a meaningful and powerful tool of recovery.