In her revealing bestseller Call Me Anna, Patty Duke shared her long-kept secret: the talented, Oscar-winning actress who won our hearts on The Patty Duke Show was suffering from a serious-but-treatable-mental illness called manic depression. For nearly twenty years, until she was correctly diagnosed at age thirty-five, she careened between periods of extreme euphoria and debilitating depression, prone to delusions and panic attacks, temper tantrums, spending sprees, and suicide attempts. Now in A Brilliant Madness Patty Duke joins with medical reporter Gloria Hochman to shed light on this powerful, paradoxical, and destructive illness. From what it's like to live with manic-depressive disorder to the latest findings on its most effective treatments, this compassionate and eloquent book provides profound insight into the challenge of mental illness. And though Patty's story, which ends in a newfound happiness with her cherished family, it offers hope for all those who suffer from mood disorders and for the family, friends, and physicians who love and care for them.
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
In this groundbreaking guide for those who are manic depressive or who live with or love someone who is, actress Duke ( Call Me Anna ), a spokeswoman for the National Institute of Mental Health, tells the harrowing story of her illness and her long road to recovery. After a lifetime of emotional turbulence, including three divorces and years of unsuccessful therapies, Duke found her own "wonder drug": lithium. Interspersed throughout her personal account are chapters that give the latest information about manic-depressive illness, its many forms and the various treatments for it, as documented by Hochman ( Adult Children of Divorce ). Also included is advice on what families can do to cope and a list of resources for the mentally ill, including organizations that care for them. A chapter examines the connection between creativity and manic depression, drawing examples from music, politics and business. An informative, readable volume.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Kirkus Reviews
Duke tells the story of her manic-depressive illness and its successful treatment, while in alternating chapters medical-writer Hochman (Heart Bypass, 1982) explains the facts of the disease and the methods of treatment currently available. Duke's strange and unhappy childhood was chronicled in Call Me Anna, and is touched on here only to show how fundamentally unloved and rejected she felt. Her manic-depressive disorder began to manifest itself when she was a young woman living in Hollywood, at the peak of her career, starring in The Patty Duke Show. As the illness escalated, her life degenerated into frequent suicide attempts, drug dependency, wrecked relationships, tantrums on the set. She began hallucinating and engaging in bizarre behavior like holding parties in her motel room for hordes of strangers (one of whom she married after a few hours' acquaintance) and hiring two guys she met in a parking lot to manage her finances (with results that can be imagined). Finally, her illness was diagnosed and successfully treated with lithium, which she takes to this day and to which, she says, she owes her present stable, happy marriage and her very life. Hochman provides information on the various forms of depression and the various guises that bipolar (manic-depressive) illness can take, identifies people at risk for these diseases, discusses the link between manic-depressive disorder and creativity, and surveys medical treatments and family-support techniques that can help the sufferer. The tone seesaws between the lurid and the dry, depending on whether Duke or Hochman is writing. But despite its gracelessness, this memoir has merit: Duke shows bravery in telling her story in all its humiliating flagrance, and undoubtedly sufferers from this puzzling and devastating disease will find help in the explanations and resources Hochman diligently provides. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to the
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
63 of 67 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Insightful, informative and well-written.,
This review is from: Brilliant Madness: Living with Manic Depressive Illness (Mass Market Paperback)
Patty Duke has brought bipolar affective disorder (Manic Depression) "out of the closet" and given those with the illness better insight into why they feel the way they do. Co-authoring with a medical writer was a *brilliant* idea. We read Patty's story, then we read the medical side of the story. The only thing I found disturbing was, like Dr Kay Jamison, Patty claims a Lithium a day does the trick. This can be misleading when many bipolars have to have meds assessed and re-assessed many many times. This gives the reader the undertone that if you're not a Lithium-responder, you're not quite right. Otherwise, an excellent book on the topic!
41 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
finally! Some real answers to all my questions,
By A Customer
This review is from: Brilliant Madness: Living with Manic Depressive Illness (Mass Market Paperback)
Patty Duke's book A Brilliant Madness is the first real good information about bi-polar disorder I have been able to put my hands on! The medical backup informatiom that Gloria Hochman contributes has given me an almost umlimited list of resources to also turn to. I read this book because my 9yr old son and my current husband are both diagnosed as bi-polar, but as I read this intense book I was amazed by feelings of fear, relief, sadness, and anger. I was able to relate to much of what I read and began to see myself which is scary. I now want to find help for all of us as our area is devoid of support groups and other local means of coping with this illness. This book is truly "Brilliant" in both the writing style and the content and has given me some hope in an otherwise bleak future. I strongly recomend this book to anyone where Manic Depression has touched their lives.
37 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This book changed my life!,
By Karla Clippinger (Spanaway, WA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Brilliant Madness: Living with Manic Depressive Illness (Mass Market Paperback)
Several yeas ago I bought this book because I believed my mother had Bipolar dissorder. I read this book and as I read it I realized not only did I see my own mother in this book, but I also saw myself. ALL my life I knew I was "different", and knew something just wasn't right. But when I read about Patty Duke and her own mood swings I knew I had bipolar dissorder. So I went to my doctor and handed him the book and said "I think I have this"...he asked many questions and in the end agreed with me, put me on lithium and from that day forward my life changed. Patty Duke's words saved my life. Her own story should be an encouragement to all who suffer from this horrible mental illness. She helped to break the stereotypes that go along with mental illness...I thank her for that, and for helping me to finally get a name to what was wrong with me all my life!
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
I knew from a very young age that there was something very wrong with me, but I thought it was just that I was not a good person, that I didn't try hard enough. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Patty Duke, National Institute of Mental Health, Los Angeles, Call Me Anna, Wall Street, Jay Amsterdam, Mary Lou, The Miracle Worker, American Psychiatric Association, John Astin, Kay Jamison, New Jersey, Betty Rollin, Grandpa Duke, Helen Keller, Holiday Inn, Janice Egeland, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Las Vegas, Second Avenue, Susan Dime-Meenan, University of Tennessee, Washington University, Gil Cates New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
I knew from a very young age that there was something very wrong with me, but I thought it was just that I was not a good person, that I didn't try hard enough. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Patty Duke, National Institute of Mental Health, Los Angeles, Call Me Anna, Wall Street, Jay Amsterdam, Mary Lou, The Miracle Worker, American Psychiatric Association, John Astin, Kay Jamison, New Jersey, Betty Rollin, Grandpa Duke, Helen Keller, Holiday Inn, Janice Egeland, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Las Vegas, Second Avenue, Susan Dime-Meenan, University of Tennessee, Washington University, Gil Cates New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 22
books:
See all 22 books this book cites
42
books
cite this book:
See all 42 books citing this book
- Manic-Depressive Illness by Frederick K. Goodwin M.D. on 7 pages
- Last Wish by Betty Rollin on page 292, and page 294
- Bipolar Disorders: (Fast Facts) by Guy Goodwin in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Moodswing 3rd Revol Psychiat by Ronald Fieve in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- MAN OF GENUIS (The History of hereditarian thought) by Lombroso on page 214, and Back Matter
See all 22 books this book cites
- Surviving Manic Depression: A Manual on Bipolar Disorder for Patients, Families, and Providers by E. Fuller Torrey M.D. on 4 pages
- Surviving Manic Depression: A Manual on Bipolar Disorder for Patients, Families, and Providers by E. Fuller Torrey in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- The Burden of Sympathy: How Families Cope With Mental Illness by David A. Karp in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Psychopharmacology And Psychotherapy: Strategies for Maximizing Treatment Outcomes (Mental Health Practice Under Managed Care, No 1) by Len Sperry on page 101, and page 104
- Behavioral Family Therapy for Psychiatric Disorders 2 Ed by Kim T. Mueser on page 117, and Back Matter
See all 42 books citing this book
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