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For me, reading isn't as enjoyable as it used to be. Most books I read because I think I should, or because they've been recommended. Many of those books I enjoy, some I enjoy a lot. But it's been a while since I've held a book in my hands and looked forward to reading it. That was exactly the feeling I got when I received "Manic: A Memoir" by Terri Cheney. The book is alluring. It's put into an attractive package - exotic cover art combined with bold graphics and easy-to-read typesetting. A high-powered attorney suffering from a mental illness who works with society's elite. Could there be a more seductive book? The chapters are easy-to-digest, and the pages seem to turn themselves. I read this book during a period of significant bipolar hypomania, yet it held my interest, and that's an accomplishment. I love that, for a book about a person with manic depression, the main character lives. I love that the book was written with a minimal amount of technical self-analysis and diagnoses, and without specifics such as medication, and dosages. Above all, I love that there's an underlying current of hope.
Wait, an underlying current of hope? Does the author realize this?
Terri Cheney tells a shocking and compelling story, one that may be questioned by those without a connection to manic depression. Manic depression, or bipolar disorder as it's commonly called these days, affects between 1% and 3% of the population. As a person who suffers from bipolar disorder, I can honestly say the experiences she relates in this book are believable, and the feelings she describes are spot-on. I love the pictures she's able to paint in my mind, and the way I’m pulled into her stories. For example, she talks about accidentally overdosing on her medication, and the peaceful feeling of the cool tile on her face as she lies incapacitated on the floor. I've been there, and her description brought back memories (or what's left of those memories). She has a thorough understanding of her disorder, and an ability to talk about it in a non-technical way. She is able to describe the feelings associated with her symptoms, which in the context of bipolar disorder is incredibly hard to do. The distinction between hypomania and mania is one of the most misunderstood, yet she makes perfect sense of the moods. Everyone thinks they understand depression, yet reading her descriptions will make the average person begin to understand the devastation of a bipolar depression.
Earlier I mentioned an underlying current of hope. Those without the disorder may not understand this, but the fact that Ms Cheney was able to come to terms with her disorder, was able to walk away from her career alive, and was able to publicly "come out" with respect to the illness gives me, and perhaps many others like me, great hope.
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