Overview
"I've learned from the experience of loving and losing a bipolar spouse that mental illness is a psychological and a physiological disorder. It can disturb a person's ability to think, feel, and relate to others and to his environment. A person with serious mental illness needs quick, accurate diagnosis and treatment with medication as well as psychotherapy. He or she cannot cure or control it through will power or a change in lifestyle. Mental illness is a chronic ailment like diabetes or multiple sclerosis and must be accepted as such without a stigma -- and it must be treated. I've learned that bipolar disorders are often triggered by a crisis such as the murder trial that preceded Frank's illness."The author combines the observational skills of a journalist, the love of a mother, and the grief of a wife in this gripping tale of what happens to a family when one member suffers from bipolar disorder. Inner guilt and torments are the center of this compelling story with lessons for all of us.
Synopsis
"I've learned from the experience of loving and losing a bipolar spouse that mental illness is a psychological and a physiological disorder. It can disturb a person's ability to think, feel, and relate to others and to his environment. A person with serious mental illness needs quick, accurate diagnosis and treatment with medication as well as psychotherapy. He or she cannot cure or control it through will power or a change in lifestyle. Mental illness is a chronic ailment like diabetes or multiple sclerosis and must be accepted as such without a stigma -- and it must be treated. I've learned that bipolar disorders are often triggered by a crisis such as the murder trial that preceded Frank's illness."
The author combines the observational skills of a journalist, the love of a mother, and the grief of a wife in this gripping tale of what happens to a family when one member suffers from bipolar disorder. Inner guilt and torments are the center of this compelling story with lessons for all of us.