Career Low and High Points

Clem Martini in Bitter Medicine goes into depth about how his bother, and childhood friend, Ben Martini ended up taking his own life due to his schizophrenic illness. The passing of his brother seemed to resonate very hard with Clem as he explains how the sudden death made him reconsider his life choices and the way that he and others envisioned mental illness. Clem describes shame as a major feeling in his brother's departure. According to Clem his family was stuck with a stigma around the community, people were too frightened, embarrassed or anxious to talk about the death. The side effects of the various medications that Oliver took are shown throughout the memoir. Clem has stated that Oliver was taking Stelazine at one point which caused side effects such as tongue stiffness, rigidity and tremors. I would say this was a low point for Oliver as it seemed that with medications he would have to sacrifice another part of himself to remove the hallucinations. Some of the medications that Oliver took were so bad that they had given him suicidal thoughts. Zyprexa is among one of the many medications Oliver took that produced incredibly harmful side-effects.

Clem has apparently received much skepticism for saying that he designs books for a living. In response Clem has posted this

Connor Pick