Customer Reviews

A Lifelong Journey: Staying Well with Manic Depression / Bipolar Disorder

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this book is filled with upbeat stories from people who are doing "great" despite having bipolar disorder/manic-depression. That's wonderful but there are many people whose lives have been terribly disrupted by brain disorders. So this book makes those people feel like losers. There is only one story in Russell's book wherein the person cannot work full-time. Everyone else is doing "super" and loves their jobs, home life etc. If you have read many other books on this disorder, you can use this book to balance out the negatives. But if this is your first book upon being diagnosed, it is highly misleading. I'd recommend Kay Redfield Jamison's books. She is straightforward, not misleading, tells the downside of this often debilitating disease. If someone who is having a rough time w/this disorder (or has a family member or friend having a rough time) were to read this book, s/he would feel as if they weren't doing enough to "conquer" their illness. The good points are: encouraging people to seek a good psychiatrist, to stay on meds, find fun activities, participate in group therapy, to exercise. But the overly cheery "we're all AOK" attitude is very misleading.

This book chronicles the "successful" lives of several people who have BPII. I guess I was supposed to be inspired, but these people made life major changes (which takes lots of courage) to manage their disease; moved from the city to the country, changed jobs, other lifestyle changes. Quite frankly, I like my life the way it is, so instead of being inspired, it made me sad. However, my BPII is pretty mild. If you have a more severe case, your life is out of control, and you would do anything to feel normal, this book will probably help.

There are many books on bipolar disorder but this is the first that focuses on healthy, stable, well-adjusted patients. It's wonderful and inspirational!!

This book should be prescribed along with one's first psych med prescription for bipolar (I, II, III, or IV). Although I have editing recommendations, it is concise and contains insights from those who have been successfully managing bipolar for years whose experiences are not found in conventional medical literature.

Full remission is possible, and this book gives the reader an idea how to achieve that. Generally, discipline and maturity don't hurt, nor does the willingness to experiment with complementary remedies and different medications and doses.

This book emphasizes that staying well means being able to recognize symptoms early and take care of them, before they are the symptoms quoted in conventional medical literature such as sleeplessness. In other words, if you're having fitful sleep, don't wait to address it until you haven't slept for three nights straight.

I have three editorial recommendations. First, I would organize the book into chapters that correspond with the staying well categories listed in the last chapter (acceptance, lifestyle, triggers, etc.). Second, I would break up the patient accounts by these topics and quote patients topically, not in essay form. I'd rather hear a little from Georgia on lifestyle and then again on sleep rather than Georgia's entire history all at once. Third, I would include research on massage, meditation, etc. that goes along with the patient accounts and explains why these remedies help manage and prevent bipolar symptoms.

This is a collection of diverse, honest and informative accounts of individuals living with manic depression. They're not the accounts of genius scientists, politicians, writers, actors or other famous individuals. They are ordinary folk, who've been able to write an account of some part of their life, as affected and effected by their lifelong condition. This is a refreshing read for anyone dealing with manic depression in any form, in their lives - either as the 'sufferer', a carer, family member, employer or friend.