NPR’s All Things Considered featured the story of Henry Cockburn and his father, British journalist Patrick Cockburn. While the father was reporting in Afghanistan in February 2002, he learned in a shocking phone call that his son nearly drowned when he took a swim in the icy waters of England’s Newhaven Estuary. Henry was admitted to a mental hospital and diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Nearly 10 years later, after hospitalization and many medications, Henry is living on his own and the two have written “Henry’s Demons: Living With Schizophrenia, a Father and Son’s Story.” The book features alternating chapters written by Patrick, Henry and Jan Cockburn about coping with the diagnosis and Henry’s experiences in mental hospitals.