Customer Reviews

Agents in My Brain: How I Survived Manic Depression

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a groundbreaking book. Agents In My Brain is a study of bipolar disorder from the INSIDE looking out. No one else could have written this book except one who has experienced this bizarre form of human consciousness, based on little understood chemical imbalances in the brain's ecology. Hannon takes you into a delusional world that could only be imagined by the surrealists. To Hannon-or anyone experiencing bipolar effects-it is not a fantasy. It is real. Hannon is a successful walking experiment. The experiment involves psychopharmacology, tweaking the chemical biome within the brain's neural network to regain effective, holistic harmony. Some have criticized Hannon's shoot from the hip style and his less than subservient manner in relation to doctors. The "God Complex" won't work on this insightful "nut case." He's the man, he was there. He's more than a patient; he's a hardcore explorer in the lethal wilderness of insanity and he's back, scars and all, to tell about it. It's must reading for anyone dealing with bipolar phenomena (I don't like the words "illness" or "disorder" because it implies some "normal" mental state as defined by the sober [and sometimes not too sane] judges of mainstream mental health). I would also recommend this book to anyone interested in the nature of human consciousness in general, whether from an artistic point of view, or a psychological one. Hannon shows that whether you are crazy or not depends first on the kind of chemistry set you're playing with, then how you conduct the experiments. It's way out, black sheep stuff. If you want to learn something you don't already know, go for it.

I knew nothing about manic depression. This book opened my eyes to a disease that is hard to image for most people. Mr. Hannon brings his feelings and thoughts to his readers and in a very remarkable way, he is able to share his painful daily struggles. I would highly recommend this book to all University psychology classes and in particular to Medical Schools. Mr. Hannon's personal insight could help physicians make an earlier diagnosis and positively impact the lives of others that become afflicted with this disease.

I have a friend who is bipolar. I'd read "A Mood Apart" a few months ago, which gave me some good information. But Hannon's book provides real insight and understanding for a nonbipolar person about what this condition must be like. The list of symptoms at the back of the book is also very useful in identifying what may seem like eccentricities of M-Ds. This book, along with "A Mood Apart" or "The Unquiet Mind" will take anyone who wishes to understand the topic a long way down that road. If I could have a magic wish in regard to this book, however, it would be for a better style of writing. At times, it reminded me of Kurt Vonnegut's "Breakfast of Champions," but I think that may have been unintentional.

This book is a long, drawn out process and dwelling recount of the problems of manic depressive as a mental illness -- without many real answers. Bipolar Disorder/Manic Depression is a medical illness that is very treatable. The good thing about the book is that the author does try to get medical treatment and it shows that it *can* be difficult. What is unfortunate is that the author doesn't end his story with a solution that is reasonable or positive -- "controlled mania" is a poor substitute for remission as described in the DSM-IV. It's dangerous to suggest that his Bipolar I condition is "typical" of every person with manic depression; his form of psychosis will be generalized to all bipolars, including the very high functioning and those who don't have psychotic features. There are some good points in this book; however the means don't justify such an inappropriate ending -- that the author resigns himself to the disorder and cannot find himself in the balanced state enjoyed by bipolar individuals who seek remission and win. It might be added that his negative view of doctors, is expressed in a way that makes them seem incompetent; when in reality psychiatrists are bound by the reports of their patients which can be unwittingly dishonest or manipulative. In turn this kind of recount can prevent people from finding good treatment, who read this book and lose hope in accepting it as gospel because "he's bipolar", and somehow this is supposed to make him some kind of authority. As far as we can tell, Mr. Hannon has no kind of clinical background and his story is in fact as idiosyncratic as the expression of the disorder in individuals itself. What is incompetent here is a person afflicted with a disorder known to be that of the intelligent; yet at the same time a person that doesn't do their own reading on the disorder, nor work to help their doctor to understand, but acts like a victim. When all treatment is based on self-report, and different treatments are introduced every year, it becomes the responsibility of the patient to communicate and educate. I think this book is a dangerous thing to still have on the shelves when there are so many patients already confused about the disorder and its treatment. As a last point, surely any bipolar individual would lose their attention span with distractibility and impatience before ever getting any kind of clinical value from its pages. It's just takes too long to get to the point, winding through the kind of madness that has made too many recounts of this disorder carry the same whining sound. Bill is a part of 2% of the general population; that's huge. So we look forward to more books, from more "representative" bipolars with success in beating the disorder -- that are more focused on answers than the melodramatic and overly detailed recounting of the problems.

This is a wonderful account of the path of destruction manic-depressive illness can leave in the life of it's victim. I was really moved by Mr. Bill Hannon's story. I feel like I know some of the most intimate details of his life. I also felt a kinship to Bill because I also suffer with Manic-Deppresive Illness and had been mis-diagnosed for many years with schizo-affective and schizophrenia regardless to the obvious history my family had with manic-depressive illness. My daughter has now been diagnosed with Manic-depression and even though I had attempted to convey my family history to the psychiatrist treating her, manic-depression was their last resort diagnosis. They tried ADHD, borderline, and schizoaffective labels on her. When they finally put her on the right dose of Depakote, a sleeping peel, and an anti-depressant, she is now like the daughter I remember before the onset of the disorder. She is now 16, her first episode was manic at 14 years of age.

Bill does a wonderful job of detailing the symptoms that he went through, even though the lousy psychiatrists he had didn't recognize and diagnose them properly. Bill also does a wonderful job showing how important early diagnosis and treatment is to the sufferer even though he didn't have the benefits of it as a result of incompetence, arrogance, and/or complacency.

Finally, I have had a lot of delusion and paranoid thoughts and behaviors with the illness. It really helped to hear the details of what was going on in another manic depressives head. I was afraid to tell my care provider's some things because I didn't want to be misdiagnoses as schizoprenic again. It help to know that the delusions I have while manic are still within the same diagnosis. As Bill says, "Knowledge is Power".

Thanks for sharing Bill. I am so happy you are getting better as am I.

I have read the reviews of the readers and I was so impressed that I am going to buy this book. My husband is Bipolar and he was first diagnosed with this illness when he was 21 yrs old. He is now 54 years old. We have been married for 24 yrs and it wasn't until 1995 that he was diagnosed as Bipolar. The doctors who treated him in the late '60's said he was paronoid schizophrenia. It is a shame that these people are treated like lepers. Bioplar is an illness like, cancer or any other illness. Why is it hard for others to understand that? His bestfriend since he was 6 yrs old doesn't talk or call him. I will get this book.

This book provides an interesting first hand account of bipolar I disorder with psychotic features. In other words, the author has the most severe form of the illness. While the writing isn't as good as in the finest mental illness memoirs, like "An Unquiet Mind", the author is still able to vividly communicate the horrors of this illness. I do wish he would have been a little more constructive in his criticisms of psychiatry, as perhaps some readers will get the impression that this is not a very treatable illness, when in fact it is. I do, however, agree that it does often take many years before a bipolar individual is properly diagnosed. Overall, a good book that should be read by anyone interested in bipolar disorder. Avery Z. Conner, author of "Fevers of the Mind".

This book started of a little dry. I found this book to expain the true trip people go through when they have manic depression. This book is very repetitive. If you are curious about depression, I suggest this book.