Manic Depression Books

Hurry Down Sunshine

Michael Greenberg

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 68 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

HURRY DOWN SUNSHINE TELLS THE STORY OF THE extraordinary summer when, at the age of fifteen, Michael Greenberg’s daughter was struck mad. It begins with Sally’s visionary crack-up on the streets of Greenwich Village, and continues, among other places, in the out-of-time world of a Manhattan psychiatric ward during the city’s most sweltering months. “I feel like I’m traveling and traveling with nowhere to go back to,” Sally says in a burst of lucidity while hurtling away toward some place her father could not dream of or imagine. Hurry Down Sunshine is the chronicle of that journey, and its effect on Sally and those closest to her–her brother and grandmother, her mother and stepmother, and, not least of all, the author himself. Among Greenberg’s unforgettable gallery of characters are an unconventional psychiatrist, an Orthodox Jewish patient, a manic Classics professor, a movie producer, and a landlord with literary dreams. Unsentimental, nuanced, and deeply humane, Hurry Down Sunshine holds the reader in a mesmerizing state of suspension between the mundane and the transcendent.

“The psychotic break of his fifteen-year-old daughter is the grit around which Michael Greenberg forms the pearl that is Hurry Down Sunshine. It is a brilliant, taut, entirely original study of a suffering child and a family and marriage under siege. I know of no other book about madness whose claim to scientific knowledge is so modest and whose artistic achievement is so great.” – Janet Malcolm, author of The Silent Woman: Sylvia Plath & Ted Hughes and The Journalist and the Murderer

“One of the most gripping and disturbingly honest books I have ever read.  The courage Michael Greenberg shows in narrating the story of his adolescent daughter’s descent into psychosis is matched by his acute understanding of how alone each of us, sane or manic, is in our processing of reality and our attempts to get others to appreciate what seems important to us. This is a remarkable memoir.” – Phillip Lopate, author of Two Marriages and Waterfront: A Journey Around Manhattan

An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness

Kay Redfield Jamison

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 330 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Too cerebral and tedious 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Right from the start, I did not find this book engaging. Unlike The Quiet Room: A Journey Out of the Torment of Madness which I have recently read and in which your heart absolutely breaks for the author, Ms. Jamison tends to recount her experiences with the cold, clinical eye of science, rather than expressing in what way her illness affects her feelings.

This book reads like a thesis paper. Ms. Jamison "reports" on her illness, with no emotion behind the words. Even as she talks about the death of one of her patients as well as her own suicide attempt and resultant coma, the words are cold and critical, making it hard to empathize with her.

As you read, she suddenly throws in statements such as "I was married by then," and "I was seeing patients by then." There was no mention up to that point that she was even dating someone, or that she was building a client base. I would think there would be some emotional account leading up to these milestones, describing what part her illness played in these important events, but they seem to be an afterthought.

She constantly provides lists of activities and accomplishments. A great deal of the book centers around her research and treatment of patients, and her fears seem to revolve only around whether or not she may be forced to give up her clinical practice and teaching if "found out," rather than providing any details as to how her illness directly affected her otherwise.

I feel she oversimplifies a complex illness which manifests in many different forms. She repeatedly overuses the word "madness," and at one point even uses the phrase "being crazy," which I find totally unsympathetic, especially for someone suffering from the illness. I believe this has unpleasant connotations, and contributes to societal stigma and misunderstanding.

A typical sentence: "In the cold light of day, however, the reality and destructiveness of rekindled illness tend to dampen the evocativeness of such selectively remembered, wistful, intense, and gentle moments." A bit too cerebral for me, bordering on what I might call "difficult to follow." She quotes Eliot, Byron, Melville and Lowell, among others, with whom the casual reader may not be entirely familiar (I am referring to myself).

This account does to some degree open a window into the world of bipolar disorder, but it left me cold without much new understanding into the emotions of the sufferer. It's definitely not the most moving or poignant account I've read about living with this type of illness. It's worth a look, but it's not the first book someone trying to understand this illness needs on his or her shelf.

Editorial Review:

As a founder of UCLA's Affective Disorder Clinic and a co-author of a standard medical text, Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison may be the foremost authority on manic-depressive illness.  She is also one of its survivors.  And it is this dual perspective -- as healer and healed -- that makes Jamison's memoir so lucid, learned, and profoundly affecting.

Even as she was pursuing her psychiatric training, Jamison found herself succumbing to the exhilarating highs and paralyzing lows that afflicted many of her patients. Though the disorder brought her seemingly boundless energy and mercurial creativity, it also propelled her into spending sprees, episodes of violence, and an attempt at suicide.  

Powerfully candid, exceptionally wise, An Unquiet Mind is one of those rare books that has the power to transform lives -- and even save them.

The Bipolar Disorder Survival Guide: What You and Your Family Need to Know

David J. Miklowitz

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 63 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Thanks to sharper diagnosis and better medicine, the future is brighter for people with bipolar disorder than in past generations. But if you or someone you love is struggling with the frantic highs and crushing lows of this illness, there are still many hurdles to surmount at home, at work, and in daily life.

*How can you learn to distinguish between the early warning signs of mood swings and the normal ups and downs of life?
*What medications are available, and what are their side effects?
*What should you do when you find yourself escalating into mania or descending into depression?
*How can you get the help and support you need from family members and friends?
*How can you tell your coworkers about your illness without endangering your career?

In this comprehensive guide, Dr. David J. Miklowitz offers straight talk that can help you tackle these and related questions, take charge of your illness, and reclaim your life. A leading researcher and clinical specialist who knows what works, Dr. Miklowitz supplies proven tools to help you achieve balance--and free yourself from the emotional and financial havoc that result when symptoms rule your life--without sacrificing your right to rich and varied emotional experiences.

This essential resource will help you and your family members come to terms with the diagnosis, recognize early warning signs of manic or depressive episodes, cope with triggers of mood swings, resolve medication problems, and learn to collaborate effectively with doctors and therapists. You'll learn specific ways to ask for support and help from your family and friends--and what to do when their "caring" feels like "controlling." For times when the going gets tough, a wealth of examples of how others have dealt with similar challenges offer new perspectives and new solutions.

Whether you have recently been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, are considering seeking help for the first time, or have been in treatment for years, this empowering book is designed to help put you--not your illness--back in charge of your life.

The Bipolar Child: The Definitive and Reassuring Guide to Childhood's Most Misunderstood Disorder -- Third Edition

Demitri Md Papolos, Janice Papolos

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 117 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Since it first appeared on bookshelves, The Bipolar Child has made an indelible mark on the field of psychiatry and has become the resource that families rely upon. Now, with more than 200,000 copies sold, the first book about early-onset bipolar disorder is completely revised and expanded.


Bipolar disorder—manic depression—was once thought to be rare in children. Now researchers are discovering not only that bipolar disorder can begin early in life, but that it is much more common than ever imagined. Yet the illness is often misdiagnosed and mistreated with medications that can exacerbate the symptoms. Why? Bipolar disorder manifests itself differently in children than in adults, and in children there is an overlap of symptoms with other childhood psychiatric disorders. As a result, these kids may be labeled with any of a number of psychiatric conditions: “ADHD,” “depression,” “oppositional defiant disorder,” “obsessive-compulsive disorder,” or “generalized anxiety disorder.” Too often they are treated with stimulants or antidepressants—medications that can actually worsen the bipolar condition.
Since the publication of its first edition, The Bipolar Child has helped many thousands of families get to the root cause of their children’s behaviors and symptoms and find what they need to know. The Papoloses comprehensively detail the diagnosis, explain how to find good treatment and medications, and advise parents about ways to advocate effectively for their children in school. In this edition, a greatly expanded education chapter describes all the changes in educational law due to the 2004 reauthorization of IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), and offers a multitude of ideas for parents and educators to help the children feel more comfortable in the academic environment. The book also contains crucial information about hospitalization, the importance of neuropsychological testing (with a recommended battery of tests), and the world of insurance. Included in these pages is information on promising new drugs, greater insight into the special concerns of teenagers, and additional sections on the impact of the illness on the family. In addition, an entirely new chapter focuses on major advances taking place in the field of molecular genetics and offers hope that researchers will better understand the illness and develop more targeted and easier-to-tolerate medicines.
The Bipolar Child is rich with the voices of parents, siblings, and the children themselves, opening up the long-closed world of the families struggling with this condition. This book has already proved to be an invaluable resource for parents whose children suffer from mood disorders, as well as for the professionals who treat and educate them, and this new edition is sure to continue to light the way.

Loving Someone with Bipolar Disorder

Julie A. Fast, John D. Preston

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 63 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

When a person loves someone with bipolar disorder, life can be very stressful. From medication troubles to a partner's mood swings the demands on a partner can be intense. Loving Someone with Bipolar Disorder takes a unique and practical approach to these issues.

Written by an author who has bipolar disorder (and who lived with a partner who also has bipolar disorder) and a coauthor with over ten books on the topic of mental illness, the book offers specific, practical and realistic tips on how a couple can work together as a team to create a treatment plan that teaches them to live with the illness while still maintaining a loving and joyful relationship. (Though this book is written for couples, friends and family members can use the techniques in the book as well.)

Loving Someone with Bipolar Disorder provides hope and encourages couples to work together to create a plan they can use to help stabilize bipolar disorder so that their relationship can focus on love and companionship instead of the illness. Chapters include ideas on how to create a comprehensive treatment plan that incorporates medications and supplements, diet, exercise and behavior and lifestyle changes into one practical approach to this very serious illness. The partner of a person with bipolar disorder learns about communicating with their partner when they're ill, getting real about the situation and how to take on other roles in healing besides caretaking. Other specific topics include work and money, emotions, sexual issues and much more. The goal of the book is to help couples create a relationship that is based on support and prevention instead of constant crisis control.

I am Not Sick I Don't Need Help!

Xavier Amador

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 45 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Not quite the whole story, but still good 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This book is excellent, but there are certain vital aspects that are kind of left out. I do understand why Dr. Amador probably did this; it's a book about how to deal with loved ones who refuse to admit they're sick, so it can't go off into too many tangents. What it doesn't do is to make it clear that *not all mentally ill people are like this!!!* Some of us are NOT in denial and DO have insight. Some of us KNOW we're sick and we DO need help (that's why we take our meds exactly the way our doctor told us to!) The only problem, then, is that anyone reading this book is likely to get the impression that nobody with a severe and persistent mental illness admits it or is able to admit it. This is so untrue. To be fair, Dr. Amador does say in the beginning that as many of 50% of all of us SPMI folk are med compliant, but that's the only place where this is said and it's easy to forget.

I'd like to see someone explore the issue of the 25-50% of people with SPMI's who ARE compliant with their meds. We're out there! I should know-- I'm one of them. YES, I'm bipolar, and I'll need medication until the day I die, so *give me the pills!* That's pretty much my attitude. The capper to it all is that I have a closed head injury from a car accident, and an MRI certainly DOES show that I have frontal lobe lesions. Hey, guess what... I'm still not in denial about having BP. The least attractive thing about it is that I can get pretty self-righteous about people who don't take their meds, complete with the "if I can do it, anyone can" attitude. ;) But still, I would really like to see Dr. Amador (or another author) address why and how some patients are fully compliant. What are they doing that the others are not doing; what are they avoiding that others are falling into? Are there warning signs that even the compliant folks might go off meds? If so, what are they? Are certain subtypes of mental illnesses more likely to cause people to be compliant? Less likely? I think there's so much that could be learned by looking at the people who have SPMI's but are not covered in this particular book. Other than that, though, it's a great book. :)

Editorial Review:

About 50% of all people with schizophrenia and manic-depression do not understand that they are ill and refuse treatment.

Whether you are a family member or a therapist, in this book you will find hope in what the new research is revealing about the problem of poor insight into illness.

Prepare to be surprised and to have new hope. There is much you can do to conquer denial.

The Bipolar Workbook: Tools for Controlling Your Mood Swings

Monica Ramirez Basco

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 23 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

not for Bipolar II 1 out of 5 stars.
10 of 16 people found this review helpful.

In my opinion, this book doesn't apply for people with bipolar II at all. I found it somewhat insulting. Too me it came across like 'never second guess your Dr, he knows better than you', or 'oh yes, Mom, you are right, I didn't take my meds yesterday, sorry for being irritable, and thanks for taking such good care of me'.

For most people with Bipolar II one of the main problems is not to have a reference point, or the inability to 'take up your spot in the universe', as my yoga teacher puts it. In my case, I often suffer from good old plain overstimulation (too many people, too much commotion, too loud, too bright, unpleasant smells, low pain tolerance, food that is too spicy). The 21st century is all about overstimulation. I was hoping for insights on how to set boundaries without braking bridges, on how to embrace bipolar as a challenge to grow other than just look at it as a nuisance. You won't find any help with that in this book.

A big disappointment!

Editorial Review:

Living with bipolar disorder is a lifelong challenge. Those who struggle with the illness have to learn effective ways to control their mood swings, avoid relapse, and get the most from medication-based treatments. This workbook delivers a hands-on resource that gives sufferers the edge they need. Based on proven cognitive-behavioral therapy techniques, the book offers a variety of tools that enable readers to recognize the early warning signs of an oncoming episode, develop plans for withstanding the seductive pull of manic episodes, and escape the paralysis of depression. Specific chapters address key challenges at various stages, from overcoming denial of the initial diagnosis to fine-tuning treatments and maintaining gains.

Why Am I Still Depressed? Recognizing and Managing the Ups and Downs of Bipolar II and Soft Bipolar Disorder

Jim Phelps

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 39 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Tried everything but still not feeling better?

If your depression keeps coming back or is even getting worse, then you may be suffering from bipolar II or “soft” bipolar disorder. Commonly misdiagnosed, these mood disorders are characterized by recurring bouts of depression along with anxiety, irritability, mood swings, sleep problems, or intrusive thoughts.

Why Am I Still Depressed? shows you how to identify if you have a nonmanic form of bipolar disorder and how to work with your doctor to safely and effectively treat it.

Author James R. Phelps, M.D., gives you the latest tools and knowledge so you can:

• Understand the Mood Spectrum, a powerful new tool for diagnosis
• Know all your treatment options, including mood-stabilizing medications and research-tested psychotherapies
• Examine the potential hazards of taking antidepressant medications
• Manage your condition with exercise and lifestyle changes
• Help family and friends with this condition understand their diagnosis and find treatment

Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament

Kay Redfield Jamison

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 56 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Not the whole story...but a fine effort all the same 4 out of 5 stars.
11 of 11 people found this review helpful.

As mentioned by others, if you are looking for the actual process of how depression is seen to predispose certain people to be creative then this book is not for you. The fineline between madman and genius is still poorly understood. Jamisons book is a treatise on what information is known along with citing studies and statistical analysis. It is aimed more towards scientists etc. studying the phenomenon as opposed to individuals looking for answers as to why they are prone to depression and the creativity that depression brings about.
However, with the above in mind, Jamison has done a good job. I feel it to be incomplete as it doesn't really get in to the nitty gritty of what exactly is happening to cause the madman/genius scenario. Alas that isn't a failing of Jamison, more a case that currently no one knows with any certainty as to what is going on. Is it hereditary?, Genetics?, a social failing, artists taking advantage of societies perception of the madgenius-artist?, being predisposed to being more emotional and just feeling the highs and lows of the human condition to a greater degree? etc. etc. Hopefully one day soon the underlying causes may be know but not today. And in a way that is a plus for this book - Jamison for the most part appears to be impartial to the theories and merely collects them together for the reader to to review. There are some biographies of certain artists/writers/poets/musicians etc. with Lord Byron being the greatest study. They make for very interesting reading, along with the lists of well regarded artistic types and their battles with mental illness.
If you are someone looking for answers this book isn't for you. But if you are looking for the current state of affairs in this field then you will find much here to dwell on. My background is science so I found the delivery of the book to be standard scientific fare and had no problems reading it. It may come across as dry to a reader not so well versed in this manner of writing. As I am now a writer and an artist I found the book to be very interesting - I didn't learn much beyond what common sense will tell you but it was useful to have all the current studies in one tome. A book in a similar vein worth reading is Anthony Storr's "Churchill's Black Dog".

Editorial Review:

From the author of the New York Times bestseller, An Unquiet Mind, Touched with Fire is an authoritative look at the relationship between manic-depressive illness and the artistic temperament. Psychiatrist Jamison advocates a restrained, humanistic approach to treatment that does not "cure" the disorder at the expense of artistic inspiration.

Manic: A Memoir

Terri Cheney

Amazon Price: $11.19 List Price: $13.99 Not yet published By: Harper Paperbacks

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Total reviews: 63 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

"I didn't tell anyone that I was going to Santa Fe to kill myself."

On the outside, Terri Cheney was a highly successful, attractive Beverly Hills entertainment lawyer. But behind her seemingly flawless façade lay a dangerous secret—for the better part of her life Cheney had been battling debilitating bipolar disorder and concealing a pharmacy's worth of prescriptions meant to stabilize her moods and make her "normal."

In bursts of prose that mirror the devastating highs and extreme lows of her illness, Cheney describes her roller-coaster life with shocking honesty—from glamorous parties to a night in jail; from flying fourteen kites off the edge of a cliff in a thunderstorm to crying beneath her office desk; from electroshock therapy to a suicide attempt fueled by tequila and prescription painkillers.

With Manic, Cheney gives voice to the unarticulated madness she endured. The clinical terms used to describe her illness were so inadequate that she chose to focus instead on her own experience, in her words, "on what bipolar disorder felt like inside my own body." Here the events unfold episodically, from mood to mood, the way she lived and remembers life. In this way the reader is able to viscerally experience the incredible speeding highs of mania and the crushing blows of depression, just as Cheney did. Manic does not simply explain bipolar disorder—it takes us in its grasp and does not let go.

In the tradition of Darkness Visible and An Unquiet Mind, Manic is Girl, Interrupted with the girl all grown up. This harrowing yet hopeful book is more than just a searing insider's account of what it's really like to live with bipolar disorder. It is a testament to the sharp beauty of a life lived in extremes.