Mental Illness
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A Brilliant Madness: Living with Manic-depressive Illness by Patty Duke and Gloria Hochman, Bantam Books, 1992. (Television and film actress Patty Duke shares her personal experience with bipolar disease.)

An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness by Kay Redfield Jamison, First Edition Vintage Books, 1996, A Division of Random House. (Dr. Jamison is Professor of Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She is an authority on bipolar disease and in this book transparently, vulnerably but hopefully shares her own struggles with the diseases.)

Call Me Anna: The Autobiography of Patty Duke by Patty Duke and Kenneth Turan, Bantam, 1987.

Dancing with Bipolar Bears / Living in Joy Despite Illness by Dr. James E. McReynolds, New York, Lincoln, Shanghai: iUniverse, Inc, 2003. (Note: Dr. McReynolds as a young minister was dubbed by the positive thinker/author/preacher, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, as the “minister of joy to the world.” This is his story about living for over four decades with the diagnosis of bipolar disorder. For more information go to web site: www.iuniverse.com.)

Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness by William Styron, First Vintage Books Edition, 1992, A Division of Random House. (William Styron is a renowned author probably most famous for "Sophie's Choice." This is his own personal account of dealing with debilitating depression.)

Fear Strikes Out: The Jim Piersall Story by Jim Piersall and Al Hirshberg, Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1955. (The story of Jim Piersall, the major-league baseball player, who became overtly manic in the middle of the season and no lithium or other mood stabilizer was available? Involuntarily hospitalized for seven weeks and treated with ETC. Became probably the first out-of-the-closet, ex-mental-patient athlete.)*

The Four of Us: A Family Memoir by Elizabeth Swados, New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 1991. Paperback by Penguin Books, 1993. (A family experience. The son officially diagnosed with schizophrenia but appears to have schizoaffective type or even manic-depressive illness. Young man spirals downward from drastic and failed suicide attempt into homelessness. While beautifully written, it is a brutally honest and profoundly depressing account. Underscores the potentially life-threatening seriousness of mental illness.)*

His Bright Light: The Story of Nick Traina by Danielle Steel , New York: Dell Publishing, 1998. (The story of Danielle Steel’s son who developed manic-depressive illness in his teens. The author/mother painfully details her on-the-job training experience of trying to understand what she was dealing with – trying to help her son. The story exposes her experience with the incompetence of most of the mental health professionals she tuned to. Nick committed suicide at age 19.)

In The Shadow of God’ Wings: Grace in the Midst of Depression by Susan Gregg-Schroeder, Upper Room Books, 1997. (Reviewer: Susan Gregg-Schroeder is an ordained minister who has suffered with depression, however, she notes the importance of living with depression, not simply having it or recovering from it. This book is very different from books that address depression as something to overcome. Instead of offering a victory scenario, Gregg-Schroeder invites readers to sit with God in the midst of our pain and to notice that spiritual gifts are also present in the midst of that depression.” www.upperroom.org.)

On the Edge of Darkness: Conversations About Conquering Depression by Kathy Cronkite , New York: Doubleday, 1994. Paperback by Delta Books, 1995. (Note: Brief essays where “famous” people share their stories.)*

Skywriting / a Life Out Of The Blue by Jane Pauley , New York: Random House, 2004. (Renowned broadcaster, Jane Pauley, shares her personal process of discovery – “skywriting” – and includes her experience with bipolar illness. She was diagnosed in 2001. The disorder was induced by a treatment with steroids for seemingly innocuous, but persistent, case of hives. A courageous, inspiring, informative and educational out-of-the-closet presentation. A good two page appendix written by Frank Miller, M.D. discussing bipolar illness.)

Undercurrents: A Therapist’s Reckoning with Her Own Depression by Martha Manning, New York: HarperCollins, 1994. (Describes her slow descent from normalcy and assumed invincibility into what she refers to as a “room in hell with only your name on the door.” Failing to respond to all available antidepressant medications, she concluded that there were left only two options: suicide or the trial of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) – she chose the latter. She describes her positive response to a short course of ECT and her slow recover. Among the best accounts available of what it is like to experience severe depression.)*

SPECIAL NOTE: Most of these books are in print. Many can be purchased and/or ordered in local book stores, ordered by way of Amazon.com or checked out at local libraries. Out of print books can often be found over the Internet: www.bookfinder.com.

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