Ulster Catharsis is a cycle of poems telling the story of the author’s journey through manic depression, a descent into madness, and eventual redemption through a return home to his beloved Ulster. The book moves from an initial chapter ‘Innocence’, recounting the author’s idyllic childhood in rural County Antrim, through ‘Loss of Innocence’ and ‘Breakdown’, brought about by emigration and illness, to eventual ‘Innocence Regained’, where the author returns home to undergo a healing catharsis in Ulster. Having undergone catharsis, the author is able, for the first time in many years, to think clearly on many issues, which are expressed in his ‘Thoughts from the Smoking Room’ and ‘Political Diversions’.