Customer Reviews

A Firm Place To Stand: Finding Meaning in a Life with Bipolar Disorder

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Marja Bergen has written a gem of a personal memoir in this book. In a fluid, storytelling style, Bergen takes us through her ongoing journey and battle with Bipolar disorder. A Firm Place to Stand is a follow-up to her first book, Riding the Roller Coasterand focuses on the spiritual side of her battle; what kind of a role faith has played in her life.

The struggle to find a meaning to life and a way out of the mental roller coaster that is bipolar disorder, brings with it a whole slew of challenges that people without mental illness don't know about or can ever experience both in relation to their relationship with others and their relative striving to find God.

Bergen begins with her upbringing in Holland, takes us through her family's settlement in Canada, and when she first started experiencing the depression that would send her to hospital and to be misdiagnosed - as many with bipolar disorder were - with schizophrenia. Thanks to more research into mental illness, thirty years after she was first diagnosed, Bergen finally learns the true nature of her illness - bipolar disorder - and with that realization and re-diagnosis comes a different set of medications and counseling.

Throughout this struggle of maintaining her sanity, Bergen leans on the strength of her husband and her new-found faith in God and the people at her church.

A truly uplifting story for those who still struggle with bipolar and need to look to someone who has been there and is saying "you can do it". I have already recommended this book to two families I know dealing with the disorder.

The world of mental illness certainly needs people who will not hide in the shadows of their illness because of the stigma that still accompanies the name "mental illness". We need more Marja Bergens to come forward with their experiences so those experiencing mental illness will finally know that they are not alone in their suffering and coping, and so the public perception of those with mental illness will change into acceptance and understanding from the current ostracism and discomfort.

Marja Bergen has chosen her title well for this book, A Firm Place to Stand, and can help others find a firm place to stand in their struggles with bipolar and their search for spiritual meaning in their lives.

Darlene Oakley
Freelance Writer and Editor
www.darscorrections.com

What would you do if you'd been diagnosed with schizophrenia and spent nine months in a mental hospital? What would you do if you later learned that you'd been misdiagnosed for twenty-five years and that you needn't have spent that much time in hospital at all? And how do you cope once you've learned that you really have bipolar disorder and will likely require a changing cocktail of medications the rest of your life? These are among the many questions Marja Bergen addresses in her deeply personal story about living with bipolar disorder. It's also about how she learned to break down the barrier she had built against God.

In A FIRM PLACE TO STAND, Marja describes her long, painful journey from psychosis to a happy, productive life filled with joy and purpose. The book contains many personal anecdotes and useful biblical passages that have helped her find ways to thrive through creativity, faith, and friendship. At the end of the book she also provides the names of organizations that can help other sufferers find support. If you know someone who's suffering, pick up this book. Bergen writes with clarity, compassion, and more than forty years experience.

In her book "A Firm Place to Stand" award winning author Marja Bergen speaks out to build a public awareness and to help those who have Bi-Polar disorder. The book describes the struggle and challenges Bergen has faced over the forty year period she has suffered with the disease.

Bergen describes the stigma attached to those with mental illness and hopes to educate the public and in particular the faith community on ways to offer support and encouragement to those plagued by those people with mood disorders.

Throughout the book Bergen projects a positive attitude and details how she personally has coped with the various forms of treatments, psychiatric counseling, and the monitoring of her medications to maintain the semblance of a normal life.

Bergen offers hope for living creatively, finding support, and finding meaning to life. She presents a positive testimony of her own spiritual journey and of how she found God, how she was nurtured in the faith, and how she has found strength, encouragement, and peace from the scriptures.

I found the appendix very helpful as it summarized Bi-Polar Disease with the symptoms, including depression, mania, hypomania, and psychosis. The resource list included and the end notes from books quoted within the text offer additional resources for further study.

With nearly 6 million American adults diagnosed as having some form of Bi-Polar Disorder, "A Firm Place to Stand" is an important and timely book and should be read by the afflicted, their families, pastors, and counselors. It is an important resource tool for faith based ministries who want to reach out into the community to provide ministry and to offer support and hope to a unique community within the community.

A former pastor of mine stood in the pulpit and announced that his daughter had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder; I'd never heard of it before. When presented with a review copy of a book written for Christians by someone living with the illness, my curiosity got the better of me, and I had to read it. Although a bit repetitive, I'm glad to have read it. Bergen writes:

The feeling of shame that comes with a diagnosis of mental illness is the biggest reason the diagnosis is so difficult to accept. The stigma is the most unjust and regrettable aspect of living with these diseases. Many suffer in silence, feeling forced to keep their illness secret.

I have learned what the symptoms of the disease look like and how the author has learned to live her life with the steady hand of a good psychiatrist, medication, and the saving Grace of God.

Marja Bergen has lived with bipolar disease for over forty years and since 1999 she has been helping people who suffer from mood disorders with her first book, Riding the Roller Coaster (Northstone). Marja is also a photographer and lives with her husband and son in Vancouver. Read more about her at [...]

A Firm Place To Stand is an extremely helpful book for those in need. It is a wonderfully written account of the author's encounter with bipolar disorder thus inspiring and educating those who have the same problem as well those who want to understand the sufferers. Suffering from bipolar disease is a difficult problem but it can be faced and dealt with. The author describes her daily life with all the obstacles she faces and has to deal with. But most of all, it is positive and inspirational.

Marja talks about the stigma people usually apply to the sufferers thus making them feel inferior and depressed. The author urges sufferers to learn about their disorder and fight back, and eventually live a fulfilling life.

It is an excellent book in its own field and it is certainly worth reading. It caters not only to other sufferers but also to everyone who would like to learn about this disease and the way bipolar disease sufferers feel. This book can appeal to a wider audience; there are people out there who are curious to know about how mentally ill people feel; there are doctors who would like to do research; there are the relatives of the sufferers who would like to get educated and help. Written in a simple way, in the first person, it is direct to the reader. Get this book from [...]

Liana Metal, author of Storytime

Given the proper circumstances, as the author makes clear throughout this book, it is possible for a person suffering from bipolar disorder to live a reasonably normal and productive life. However, the critical precondition to this is that the problem be properly diagnosed. As Bergen points out, her initial diagnosis was schizophrenia, which led to improper treatment that was at best neutral but generally counterproductive.
The necessary consequence of the proper diagnosis is the proper administration of medication. Medical science has made enormous strides in the last two decades in developing effective chemical treatments for bipolar disorder, although as Bergen makes clear, while necessary, they are not sufficient. It is also critically important that the person have a solid support structure, people who are aware of the condition and can help when needed yet lend a daily sense of normality and routine to their lives.
Bergen is extremely honest in her descriptions of her life and how it is wrapped around, but not controlled by her bipolar disorder. The complex simplicity of how she deals with it is an inspiration and an explanation to all who suffer from the disorder, whether it is directly or indirectly. Life with bipolar disorder is not easy, but it can be enjoyable, and Bergen is to be commended in her honesty in telling it truly as it is.