Trying to understand more about bipolar disorder, I burned through Terri Cheney's Manic: A Memoir. She tells of the high episodes and the low episodes that she's lived through as a person suffering from manic depression. She writes about it in terms of energy, either extremely high energy periods where she felt as if she could talk and talk and talk and work day and night or an extremely depressed state where she didn't have the strength even lift the phone. The most dangerous time for a manic-depressive seems to be a "mixed state" when one is depressed enough to commit suicide and manic enough to have the energy to actually do it. Cheney's book has given me much to think about.
Now I'm reading Marya Hornbacher's book called Madness, which is about her life with manic-depression. She also wrote Wasted about her struggle with anorexia and bulimia, which she now believes to have been due to her late-diagnosed manic-depression. She talks about her wild swings between extremes from the time of her childhood. Her swings also come much more closely together as she has "rapid-cycle" bipolar. This book feels a little grittier and a little sadder since we get her memories of being a scared child with the illness. Some facts from the appendix of Hornbacher's book:
--About 5.8 million American adults have bipolar disorder
--About 25% of all bipolar patients have attempted suicide
--About half of all suicides in th U.S.A, can be attributed to bipolar
--The term "bipolar" was first used in 1980
--Average age of onset is 23
--Average age of correct diagnosis is 40
--Rate of alcoholism in bipolar men is 3X higher than in the general population
--Rate of alcoholism in bipolar women is 7X higher than in the general population
Places for more information:
aacap.org
psych.org
apa.org
bipolarworld.net
crazymeds.org
manicdepressive.org
nami.org
nimh.nih.gov
psychcentral.com
psychlaws.org
One reader's thoughts as she steps from book to book.
Books I've Finished
- "A Christmas Memory"
- by Truman Capote 12/8/12
- "Child's Christmas in Wales"
- by Dylan Thomas 12/7/12
- "One Christmas"
- by Truman Capote 11/29/12
- "The Thanksgiving Visitor"
- by Truman Capote 11/29/12
- Inside Mrs. B's Classroom
- by Leslie Baldacci 11/28/12
- The Bee Eater
- by Richard Whitmire 11/15/12
- There Are No Shortcuts
- by Rafe Esquith 10/28/12
- I'd Like to Apologize to
- Every Teacher I Ever Had
- by Tony Danza 10/21/12
- Corked
- by Kathryn Borel 10/15/12
- Year of Learning Dangerously
- by Quinn Cummings 9/30/12
- A Hologram for the King
- by Dave Eggers 8/23/12
- To Kill a Mockingbird
- by Harper Lee 7/18/12
About Me
- Christine
- I often have a few books with bookmarks in them at once. I enjoy classics more than contemporary works of fiction, often read historical fiction, and love to get glimpses into other people's lives by reading memoirs and biographies.
10 comments:
The discrepancy between the age of onset and the age of diagnosis is frightening. I have not known anyone with it, but as someone with OCD, I *am* familiar with the feeling of not being in control of one's own mind. And as frustrating and scary as this condition has been for me, I could not possibly imagine dealing with something so extreme.
Erin, have you read any good books about obsessive-compulsive disorder? And may I ask you here what the single most effective thing has been to curb your symptoms?
My nephew was diagnosed with bipolar disorder when he was 17 or 18 and is now 19 or 20. Since he lives in England, I haven't been around him but I know it has been extremely painful for his family (my brother, his dad, has now started to have seizures which I can't help thinking might be due to stress). My nephew would swing from deep all-consuming depression to periods of paranoid delusion. Luckily he seems fairly stable on medication at the moment.
Christine, I know it's Hollywood, but have you seen "A Beautiful Mind" about John Forbes Nash?
Christine - the two books you mention sound interesting. How did you find them or what made you chose them vs. other books about bipolar?
The only book I've read involving OCD is Kissing Doorknobs, a YA novel about a girl who develops the disorder. While it illustrates some points about OCD, the writing is fairly weak, and the girl comes across less like a character than a poster board showing a list of symptoms, thereby proving the author did her research.
I'd really love to get my hands on some non-fiction books about OCD, but I'm not sure where to begin. I'd have to see what's out there.
Insomniac, peace to your nephew and his family as they deal with this consuming disorder. I am glad to hear that he is in a period of stability. I have seen A Beautiful Mind, which I found to be powerful and very moving. Have you read the book?
Diana, at B&N, we have a perk (Don, can I say this? Is this a secret?) where we get to "check out" hardcover books. The only two hardcover memoirs on bipolar in our Psychology section are the two that I am reading.
Cheney is in her late forties or early fifties and writes about her episodes as isolated events. Hornbacher is a younger woman, and her story is broader, messier. She writes of manias that lasted longer than a year and depressions that lasted over nine months. Then she writes complete conversations that seem to take her from one to the other within minutes.
I haven't looked into other books but will check our library's collection.
Erin, a brief look on Amazon yielded these two titles:
Rewind, Replay, Repeat: A Memoir of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder by Jeff Bell
Contaminated: My Journey Out of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder by Gerry Radano
Thanks for the recommendations, Christine. I'll definitely check those out.
Thanks Christine
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