Helpful Score: 5
I'll say right up front I have bipolar but I'm being relatively well maintained on my meds. It was good to read that the author also believed in psychiatric medicine, and he has the same attitude as I do: DON'T OVERDO THE MEDS. It's easy to become a zombie on some of these pills, so be wary.
David is a very likable narrator and he certainly swung up and down, from the depths to the heights, while he struggled early with bipolar. His perceptive descriptions of hypomania and full-blown mania are the best I've ever read, or heard someone try to describe. Conversely, as he discusses his father's two-year odyssey in bed, everything he writes is true and all-so-unbelievably real at times.
The illness takes its toll on all those close to someone bipolar. The narcissistic aspects of bipolar often alienate ALL loved ones. There is hope, and Lovelace includes passages that would attest to this.
This would be my top choice of books to give to a loved one who was trying to understand the illness. Bipolar appears in this book in several guises, and all of them are horrible, but ultimately bipolar is treatable. The author proves this without having to say it.
If you're bipolar and going through an episode, I recommend staying away from this book. Otherwise it's a tarnished jewel of an insight, and should eventually become required reading on the subject.
David is a very likable narrator and he certainly swung up and down, from the depths to the heights, while he struggled early with bipolar. His perceptive descriptions of hypomania and full-blown mania are the best I've ever read, or heard someone try to describe. Conversely, as he discusses his father's two-year odyssey in bed, everything he writes is true and all-so-unbelievably real at times.
The illness takes its toll on all those close to someone bipolar. The narcissistic aspects of bipolar often alienate ALL loved ones. There is hope, and Lovelace includes passages that would attest to this.
This would be my top choice of books to give to a loved one who was trying to understand the illness. Bipolar appears in this book in several guises, and all of them are horrible, but ultimately bipolar is treatable. The author proves this without having to say it.
If you're bipolar and going through an episode, I recommend staying away from this book. Otherwise it's a tarnished jewel of an insight, and should eventually become required reading on the subject.
