Skins star Hannah Murray details being sectioned during time in alleged cult
Topics: Game Of Thrones, Mental Health, Celebrity, Entertainment
Jen Thomas
Featured Image Credit: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic for HBO
Topics: Game Of Thrones, Mental Health, Celebrity, Entertainment
Warning: This article contains references to mental health and sectioning which some readers may find distressing
Skins star Hannah Murray has bravely opened up about what it was like being sectioned after she had difficulties with her mental health in an alleged 'cult'.
Murray, who played Cassie in the teen drama, also starred as Gilly in the smash-hit HBO series Game Of Thrones.
She has now written a memoir about her experiences, called The Make-Believe: A Memoir of Magic and Madness.
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The Guardian shared an excerpt of the book, where Murray recalls being told she was being sectioned after everything had gone badly wrong for her mental health.
Now 36, Murray recalls being introduced to an unnamed, spiritual 'wellness' group, which she refers to as 'the organisation'.
She was introduced to them after seeing an energy healer back in 2017 when she was filming historical drama Detroit.
After attending sessions with the group, her mental health continued to spiral and she would later be sectioned in March 2017.
She was becoming increasingly unwell, which resulted in her being hospitalised under Section 2 of the Mental Health Act.
Murray had come to believe that she was the 'saviour of the universe'.
"I understand I am in hospital, that I have been sectioned. But I know really I am still the saviour of the universe," she wrote, shortly after arriving at hospital.
Writing in the memoir, she recalled a nurse coming to visit her, a man, in a blue uniform with an NHS lanyard, but in her confused mental state he believed he was 'Steve', the 'leader of the organisation'.
She wrote: "Steve, the leader of the organisation that introduced me to magic, is a magician. I know he can appear in disguise. I approach the man and try to kiss him."
"He does not let me kiss him. Then no. It is not Steve," she recalled, adding he brought her toast and tea.
She added sugar to the tea to drink it, and left the toast, and after being left alone she urinated into the cup and drank that too.
"I am a Ritual Master. And this, drinking my own urine, is a powerful ritual. This is all I need now to survive … I will never need to eat again. I survive on liquids and air and light," she believed.
Later, she was handed her phone where her distressed mother was on the line, asking what was going on.
Murray believed it was a 'test', writing that it was 'a horrible test, certainly, but one that I can pass. They are trying to tempt me back into the human. They are trying to lure me back into the past."
She recalled being told she was being sectioned, to her shock.
“Section 2 … the Mental Health Act … 28 days … right to appeal … ” adding "This does not fit at all. It does not fit in the world of Steve, of Ritual Master, of Shambhala and the invention of magic."
She truly believed that the world had been headed for an apocalypse, and only she had prevented it.
She would later be diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder, and described it as a relief.
"There was a kind of immediate relief," she writes. "This could provide an explanation for many years of challenge, mental anguish, pain, confusion.
"I had always wanted to know what was wrong with me," she continues. "Now here was someone, calm and qualified in the field of psychiatric medicine, giving two words that might provide a clearly defined answer."
If you're experiencing distressing thoughts and feelings, the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) is there to support you. They're open from 5pm–midnight, 365 days a year. Their national number is 0800 58 58 58 and they also have a webchat service if you're not comfortable talking on the phone.