This issue was written by people with mental illnesses from hospitals in London, Berlin, Stockholm and a day centre care prgramme called Wilpower in Northfield, Illinois, USA.

We met them through friends, associates and, in the case of the Yanks, after being inspired by a gutting, funny, and brilliant documentary called Unbreakable Minds. Abby and Irene, who made it, turned us on to WilPower and got us in the door. And Sue Shimon, the executive director of WilPower, was kind enough to know that we didn't want to do a magazine that said, "Ha ha, look at the fucking loony tunes. Ha ha ha, they think the TV said that nobody likes them" or whatever. So thanks to all of you guys.

But mostly thanks to all the mentally ill people who generously let us meet them and told us what they were thinking about.

Bradley Tennant works part-time in a video rental shop in North London. He also attends regular sessions of therapy to cope with his extreme temper and violent impulses which he can't quite understand.

Brian Spencer, an aspiring young poet and writer who plays about 20 hours of Final Fantasy 10 per day and has severe bipolar disorder, tells us what it's like to swallow a bunch of pills that make your brain different.

Amy Kogen is a bipolar woman and her kid Tim is autistic. She wrote out her tips for being a good mom for us.

Michelle Smith is a painter from Hackney who claims to have visits from demons. She's also endured abuse at the hands of fellow patients while staying in hospital. Michelle also likes to dance so we got her to tell us what she thought of the bands in our music section.

And then we have Femi. He's a friend of our photographer Alex Sturrock. He's living proof that all the potheads who say that smoking skunk doesn't make you crazy are lying.