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Agency and ‘Severe mental illness’
In social science, agency is the ability of individuals to have the power and resources to fulfil their potential. It’s one independent ability to act on one’s will. John Locke pointed out that the concept of agency is the capacity of individual beings to shape circumstances in which they live. And Jacques Rousseau called it… Continue reading
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Live your life fully
What things give you energy? It’s an interesting question to ask: what things give you energy? By answering this question I would like to first make an observation that there are people who derive you off energy (psychic vampires) and those who give you energy. I am a donor of energy. I give energy to… Continue reading
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Magical Amsterdam
And so, at the age of 23/24 I ended up living in Amsterdam, where I stayed for seven years in total. But before I tell you more about my adventures there (such as ending up in a psychosis at the age of twenty-seven), let’s look at Amsterdam at first. From all the places where I… Continue reading
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Relaxing with bipolar disorder
How do you relax? Here I am again, talking about my bipolar disorder. My friends advice me to stop analysing my life via a psychiatric diagnosis but what can I do, if the psychiatric label sits firmly above my head? In my daily life you wouldn’t notice that something is wrong with me. I am… Continue reading
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Living abroad
Share a story about the furthest you’ve ever traveled from home. I am not sure how to answer this question. My problem is that I ended up living in four different countries , either pursuing a bursary for studies or moving for a job. Never for a man, which with age and maturity I recognize… Continue reading
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When you are bipolar
How are you feeling right now? In all honesty I feel pretty bad today. For those who don’t know, I have bipolar disorder. I don’t have mood swings but I am vulnerable to psychoses. I have a few behind me, and hopefully, despite the euphoria I experience while being in that state of ‘magic’, I… Continue reading
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Live the life to the fullest
What motivates you? I have a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, given to me because of my vulnerability to psychoses. Since getting the diagnosis and being on and off some heavy medication with disastrous side effects, I have promised myself that my diagnosis doesn’t define me. Yes, if I end in a psychosis I act weird… Continue reading
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On Writing
What do you enjoy most about writing? My family name Netchitailova means unreadable’ in Russian and yet, writing and reading is my biggest passion! I started to write at the age of twelve and in Russian and even won a third place at one writing competition at school but didn’t pursue this passion until the… Continue reading
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On Amsterdam, Master and Margarita, and magic
But before I launch into my experience with psychoses, let’s first discuss whether magic is real. Even before coming to Amsterdam (a city that has lots of magic), I always believed in something. I was fascinated by unusual occurrences, strange occasional visions, and the supernatural. One of my friends on Twitter published an excellent post… Continue reading
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Welcome to Amsterdam
It was at the end of the summer 2000 that I moved from Brussels to Amsterdam to do a master’s degree at the University of Amsterdam. I had won a bursary and since my mum and my stepdad lived in the Netherlands then, it seemed like a logical move. Apart from the difficulty of the… Continue reading
About Me
I am a doctor of philosophy, a university lecturer, and a lover of cats, fine wine, dancing, theatre, and human eccentricity. I was born in the Soviet Union (Moscow). I am fluent in four languages, and have spent all my adult life studying (except from 18 to 19) working and living throughout Western Europe. Despite a surname-Netchitailova- that translates from Russian into English as “unreadable”, my greatest passions in life are reading and writing. My personal struggles have made me appreciate the manifestations of weirdness that exist everywhere.