Syd Barrett took a left turn and never came back, Andrew Voyce did. Why?

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to compare the stories of Syd Barrett musician, with Andrew Voyce, and their respective recovery journeys. Design/methodology/approach The authors use collaborative autoethnography to share their own perspectives on Syd Barrett and to contrast his story with that of Andrew, a co-author. Findings Both Syd and Andrew experienced serious mental distress. While Syd had only limited contact with mental health services, Andrew’s contact was extensive, with a 20-year history of admissions and discharges. In the end, when the psychiatric services listened to Andrew’s concerns and acted on them, he was able to enter into the journey of recovery. Research limitations/implications The authors are restricted in the amount of available information on Syd Barrett, especially that related to mental health problems. The story of Andrew shows how recovery is possible even after years of serious mental illness. Practical implications Andrew’s story shows why professionals should never give up on people, with even the most seemingly severe and intractable problems. Could services have done more for Syd? Social implications Mental illness still attracts huge stigma. Today there is a much more open culture. Would Syd have come out about his own struggles with mental health had society been more open? Originality/value Bringing together two stories of mental distress enables the authors to explore the concept of recovery.

A tale of two Peters: an analysis of the life of Peter Green using collaborative/community autoethnography and digital team ethnography

“…In our earlier paper about Syd Barrett (Hopkinson et al , 2021) we were inspired to look at the life of Syd Barrett having read a quotation from Mick Fleetwood (Newman, 2020), who said, ‘Peter Green took a left turn and never came back.’ I didn’t really know Peter Green but had read more about Syd Barrett and felt the quotation applied to him. I persuaded Patrick and Andrew that we should write about Syd Barrett.…”

“…The circumstances surrounding Peter Green’s disappearance from the spotlight in May 1970, have been the topic of some speculation, but have attracted less academic interest than those of his close contemporary Syd Barrett, whose career followed a similar trajectory. Unlike Syd Barrett (Hopkinson et al , 2021), however, Peter Green was later to re-emerge and to record and perform live. Peter Green married briefly in 1978.…”

“…Surprisingly there has been little academic interest in Peter Green’s mental health problems, in contrast to that shown in Syd Barrett’s (Sanati and Young, 2017; Hopkinson et al , 2021). There are a number of possible explanations for this.…”

“…As told by Hopkinson et al (2021), despite its popularity as a readily available explanation for the mental illness–related decline of musicians, there is very little evidence to support the role of psychedelics in causing mental health problems. In fact, there is evidence that their use might be therapeutic (Fuentes et al , 2020).…”

Editorial – Remarkable Lives: the next steps

“…This was our first introduction to the field of autoethnography (Bochner, 2011). In turn, I have introduced this approach to others (Voyce and Carson, 2020; Hopkinson et al , 2021).…”