Madness by Marya Hornbacher

[thatguy]

A memoir of a young woman coping with bipolar disorder. Her writing style is manic. It's easy to get sucked in and read a hundred pages. This says a lot as I am not an avid reader. Having been through this from the outside, it was good to have a little insight as to what's going on with someone suffering from bipolar. It's tragic.

I once listened to a Ram Das lecture. At the end, during Q&A someone asked how his work in hospice care compared to the drug-infused mind exploration of the sixties. He said that when you are trying to support a person with Alzheimer's or something similar, you have to meet them in their world. You have to participate in their reality. You just have to be sure to let that go and get back to your own reality afterwards. This book was a good glimpse into the bipolar person's reality.

--tg

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Did you ever read Girl, Interrupted? A well-written personal account of schizophrenia. As you say, the view from the "inside" is really fascinating. No, I never saw the movie.