TAKE A BOWIE
Did Ziggy Stardust save David?
David Bowie morphed into Ziggy Stardust to hide a belief that he might go mad. Insanity ran in his family – his aunts and half-brother were psychotic and his grandma believed the family was cursed with mental illness. But psychologist Oliver James says Ziggy saved David’s life – and he can save yours. In his book, Upping Your Ziggy, James says childhood trauma can be overcome with a separate persona. Role playing can alleviate anxiety about past adversities. Bowie devised several stage roles, from Ziggy to the Thin White Duke to Aladdin Sane. James believes when Bowie died, he was a happy man who’d overcome sex and drug addictions, and the fear of madness, with the help of his self-created alter-egos.