How to Talk to Crazy People Many different types of people, for many different reasons, read memoirs about mental illness. Some may be suffering from an illness themselves and are looking for guidance or inspiration. Some may have questions as a ...
Reboot: A Novel of Bipolar Disorder After my girlfriend, whom we will call Elle, had her first full-blown manic episode, I began to read several books on bipolar disorder. These included books on medications and the use of ECT (electroconvulsive therapy), which Elle received ...
A Hidden Madness Memoirs of mental illness have crowded the literary landscape for the past two decades, and many have veered toward the sensationalistic in an attempt to stand out from the pack. James T.R. Jones’s A Hidden ...
White Elephants As I cried, I wanted to believe it was the alcohol that induced Mom’s words. I had to believe it was the alcohol. I don’t want them. The words rang in my ears. That’s the ...
Loud In The House of Myself: Memoir of a Strange Girl I found "Loud In The House of Myself: Memoir of a Strange Girl" by Stacy Pershall to be a superbly written, first-person account of a young girl's struggle with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and bipolar ...
The Boy from Bothell: Bipolar Vietnam Veteran Gene Olson’s The Boy from Bothell: Bipolar Vietnam Veteran gives a memoir of his life, his difficulties with bipolar disorder and his fight for sanity. As Olson notes, bipolar disorder was first described at the ...
Runaway Mind: My Own Race with Bipolar Disorder Runaway Mind by Maggie Reese was a thoroughly enjoyable, engaging and educational book filled with firsthand accounts of what life can be like with bipolar disorder. Maggie invites us into her life during this very ...
Psychiatric Tales: Eleven Graphic Stories About Mental Illness Before beginning a review of Psychiatric Tales: Eleven Graphic Stories About Mental Illness, this reviewer feels that it is necessary to disclose that it is the very first graphic novel she has ever read. Keeping ...
Approaching Neverland: A Memoir of Epic Tragedy & Happily Ever After In the 1960s, when author Peggy Kennedy grew up, mental illness was a family secret. It was whispered about, handed off to hospitals, restrained, subjected to electroshock therapy and slews of sedatives and sent back ...
Scattershot: My Bipolar Family It was back in the '50s. One day my friend's mother just disappeared. That Sunday as they gathered in the church parking lot, the other mothers whispered. My friend stood next to me and cried. ...
Hiding Behind the Pulpit with Bipolar Disorder I have an illness that affects nearly 1 out of every 17 Americans, and affects 1 out of every 5 families. This disease is chronic in nature, and can only be controlled, not cured. It ...
Living with Schizoaffective Disorder, Part 3 If You Think You're Mentally Ill
If you feel you may be suffering from a mental illness, or could be in danger of doing so, I urge you in the strongest terms to seek the advice ...
Living with Schizoaffective Disorder, Part 2 The Heebee-Jeebies
Be careful when you wrestle with monsters, lest you thereby become one. For, if you stare long enough into the abyss, the abyss also stares into you.
-- Friedrich Nietszche
Now I ...
Living with Schizoaffective Disorder Being schizoaffective is like having manic depression and schizophrenia at the same time. It has a quality all its own though which is harder to pin down.
Manic depression is characterized by a cycle of ...
Denied for Being Myself: An Attempt To Be Hospitalized Within my most powerful episodes of depression, I would awake each morning, shower, apply makeup, and attempt to create a fabulous outfit. My worst appearance offense during these periods would be to go out ...
Living with Bipolar Disorder Dave, a 68-year-old Texan, has battled bipolar disorder for more than two decades. He raised a family and owned a successful business. He is now retired and spends his time reaching out to others with ...
Being Teased and Taunted I grew up mostly in Alexandria, Minn., but moved to Ada in the 6th grade. When I was young I was a very emotional child. I was put into a special class, even thought I ...
Jennifer’s Story I think my problems started at age 3, when my father passed away. My mother said I almost had a mental breakdown, I quit talking, and was in my own little world. That only lasted ...
Alice’s Story with Bipolar Disorder When my daughter "Alice" was 24, she came home from graduate school one day at three in the morning in a new red Camaro. She sat outside in her new convertible, honking the horn.
She had ...
