What Goes Up: Surviving the Manic Episode of a Loved One [Paperback]

Judy Eron (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 5, 2005

For those with loved ones who suffer from manic-depression.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Eron provides an excellent list of spousal survival strategies, as well as a helpful bibliography. Recommended for all public libraries. -- Library Journal, May, 2005

Once I started, I could not put this book down. -- Xavier Amador, PhD. author, I AM NOT SICK;I DON'T NEED HELP

Readers who never experience such trials will find the story irresistible all the way to its bittersweet ending. -- Foreword, September, 2005

There's a moral here for individuals with bipolar disorder and their families; the book will be very useful for them. -- E. Fuller Torrey, MD

This is a love song written by a survivor of suicide, at times heart-breaking and frightening, yet brimming with life. -- Morton Silverman,MD SUICIDE AND LIFE-THREATENING BEHAVIOR

From the Publisher

Gravity is a fact, something that Judy Eron knows all too well. Her husband Jim had bipolar disorder and took his own life in 1997, after coming down from a full-blown manic episode that lasted a year. Judy turned her grief into action, writing WHAT GOES UP. . .Surviving the Manic Episode of a Loved One, a memoir cum self-help book, published by Barricade Books in June, 2005.

WHAT GOES UP addresses specifically the manic phase of bipolar disorder, a topic whose coverage pales in comparison to that of depression.

Judy tells her story of loving, living with, and losing Jim, and offers coping strategies for others with loved ones who suffer from this devastating illness - parents, children, siblings, even friends - advising them on what they should expect from someone in the midst of a manic episode, how to engage with that person, how to get help for that person, and how to maintain their own sanity and strength in the face of such unpredictable and intense behavior. In addition, Judy stresses the important of pre-planning when the individual is well.

This book is a caution to others that bipolar disorder is a cycling and potentially fatal illness, one not to be romanticized as several recent books and newspaper articles on the subject have done. Judy emphasizes that a person who is manic can be flying so high and be so persuasive that those around him or her can easily forget that the individual is bound for a fall and that depression and suicide are just waiting in the wings. Even Jim, a brilliant psychologist, and Judy, a social worker, were unprepared for Jim’s sudden spiral into mania.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Barricade Books (May 5, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569802858
• ISBN-13: 978-1569802854
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #85,127 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a nightmare!, February 21, 2007

By 

Debbie Campbell (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: What Goes Up: Surviving the Manic Episode of a Loved One (Paperback)

God bless Judy Eron for sharing what she experienced and learned during her bipolar husband's manic episode. I bought this book for some friends, a long-time married couple who have dealt with bipolar disorder for many years. After giving it a favorable review, they loaned it back to me. I was eager to read it, hoping it would help me understand what they've been going through.

Well, what a nightmare. For me, the most terrifying thing about this story is that the author and her husband were both mental health professionals! If _they_ didn't know what to do, how in the world would the rest of us be able to recognize or deal with someone going through this?!

There's no happy ending or quick fixes here, but Eron helps us understand a manic person's distorted way of thinking, how it's important not to get drawn into that person's (paranoid) delusions, and what strategies may or may not be helpful. For example, I was surprised that an "intervention," which would have seemed an obvious choice to me, in fact only fed her husband's anger and paranoia and pushed him farther away from accepting help.

I used to think that manic meant really happy. Now, sadly, I know better.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great for understanding, September 16, 2005

By 

D. Locascio "LI Mama" (Massapequa, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: What Goes Up: Surviving the Manic Episode of a Loved One (Paperback)

I read this book in awe. She experienced many of that same things I thought were unique to my situation. I wish I had found this book a year ago when in my own "bad year" with my husband. If you love someone who is bipolar and manic, this is for you. There are more resources out there to help you through the depressive part, but for someone who has one who is more manic in their life, this book is invaluable. I plan on buying several copies to "lend" to friends and family who don't really "get it". Maybe they can see it explained about a third party better than for someone they know and love and then finally get past the denial (the bipolar person isn't the only one to suffer from denial)!

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intelligent and Compassionate, September 26, 2005

By 

Doug White (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: What Goes Up: Surviving the Manic Episode of a Loved One (Paperback)

"What Goes Up" is intelligent and thoughtful. How can a reader's heart not go out to Judy Eron as she chronicles with grace and compassion such a personal tragedy? Many of us know or sometimes encounter others who are bipolar, and this book helps explain not only their struggle but how we might be better prepared for our interactions with them.