Bipolar 1 Disorder - How to Survive and Thrive by Molly McHughMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
From the very beginning the author admits to writing a memoir of her personal experiences living with the illness Bipolar 1 Disorder. At times it came across to me as a combination of a brief autobiography and a self-help journal, even though it was a difficult read. Molly McHugh keeps nothing back when describing her manic phases and the unsympathetic treatment she was often subjected to when a younger adult. Despite this the reader is often fed many light hearted, amusing moments through her incredible sense of humour. When I was constantly reminded that the book was dealing with a form of mental illness, together with several tragic incidents that left my jaw dropped in disbelief, I was just amazed to find the author’s constant positive attitude to life. It was something to be admired and applauded.
Moving from the personal to the more informative list of treatments, drugs, technical articles and books etc was a good thing later in the book. McHugh could have been accused of trivialising what is after all a very serious illness in the first few chapters as she tended to give many of the psychiatrists, nurses and so on caricature nick-names, like Dr Sexy and the Drone. However, her feelings and seriously considered opinions were also dealt with throughout the book and provided a more than adequate counterbalance to her occasional levity. It is not the sort of book that one can claim to enjoy since, notwithstanding the smiles, it is not a source of entertainment. But it is a very well written account and would be very helpful to sufferers (is that the correct term?) and their family and friends: helpful as a practical source of resources, as well as an important sharing of emotions and possible misgivings about Bipolar disorders.
If I have any negative criticisms they are that there are many references offered as internet online links and I found they were a bit “shaky” in that I often had to click on them several times to find the page site. Some of the links did not work at all even after many clicks. A minor inconvenience which could be a glitch with my PC I suppose. Plus there were occasional strange phrases used in sentences that I found hard to understand, such as: “Still single yet having connecting on many levels with other decent, fun-loving folks throughout my life including a romantic relationship or two, is enough.” What does that mean? Would some commas have helped? It could just be down to a difference in US and UK English language semantics. I’m still not sure, but even so, I highly recommend this book for the reasons given above; and because it is highly illuminating to someone, like myself, who has not knowingly had contact with a person with Bipolar Disorder 1 or 2 but probably has fears and prejudices about it.
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