When the Bough Breaks: A Memoir about One Family's Struggle with Mental Illness

by Denise Brauer, Michelle Brauer

The Brauer family would have described themselves as conventional and nondescript, until Barbara, a devoted wife and mother, suddenly developed bipolar disorder. She was 45 and otherwise in good health, but plunged into depression so quickly that she slit her own throat before anyone suspected the gravity of the situation. This book is about the year in which the family struggles to find treatments, trying to recover the woman they loved from the abyss of mental illness. When the Bough Breaks, co-authored by the Brauer sisters, is a memoir about the painful year in their adolescence when their mother is diagnosed with manic depression. They are the statistics come to research about girls experiencing family problems who are more likely to experience depression, use drugs, experiment with sex, and struggle with eating disorders. Survivors of suicide often feel like this subject is one of the last taboos in our society, and they can feel uncomfortable discussing the loss of a loved one to suicide. This book attempts to breach this divide by sharing one story from the perspective of teenagers who lived through it.

369 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 20, 2013

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a touching month-by-month account written by two sisters about their mother's unsuccessful and eventually successful attempts at suicide. The mother is bipolar, a disorder they don't understand until after a particularly manic phase that involved their mother driving recklessly, ordering huge quantities of clothes and other unnecessary things, refusing to acknowledge that she's ill, and spitting out the lithium prescribed for her.

It is the only book I've ever read that describes the onset and progress of the disease by two intimate family members, which gives an outsider's witnessing of the progression of behavior. Kate Millet's The Looney Bin Trip, also an excellent book, offers a subjective account of her bipolar battle, but without the insight of this book, since she's describing it as logical behavior while it's happening.

A fascinating book for anyone interested in bipolar disorder, and especially its effect on family members.

[jennifer l shockley]

This is a touching story of a family in the 1980's struggling with their mother's sudden mental illness. It is written by the daughters of the mentally ill mother, each telling their own side of thee story as they experienced it as teens. To see through their eyes, with their own (teenage) self-interest, gives a unique perspective; in contrast to most memoirs on madness, where the protagonist is usually the narrator.

It struck me the innocence of these girls, their confusion and bewilderment (and often hatred) towards their mother is shameful, until one remembers these are just children who are just trying to deal with a difficult situation in the only way they can. I thought it was telling the way their father was such a rock, and accepted his children's reaction to what their mother did with calm and grace. This, if I may conjecture, might be why the girls (women) turned out so well. No matter what, their parents did instill them with the wisdom and maturity to make the right decisions and a good life for themselves.

I wish the family good will.

[sharon irving · Rating 5 out of 5]

Emotionally honest account of a families journey through the chaos of mental illness

This book is a sensitive but honest recalling of a families descent into the frightening experience of mental illness. It took great courage to share this family history and it was done with dignity and grace.

[Carolyn abbott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartbreaking

I have a dad who committed suicide. My mom is schizophrenic and my husband is bipolar. I miss my dad more than anything in this world. I've learned to understand my mom. I love my husband with all my heart and I will always help him if he needs me. Thank you Denise and Michelle for this book. You guys rock!

[Alisha Danoff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very long book with a lot of pointless details

I really didn't like this book because it really didn't have a point and wasn't written well. There were some grammical errors. The end was very sad. I would have liked to see more written in the end then in the beginning.

[Jessica Brunner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think it could have used another good proof reading due to a few typographical errors, but otherwise SO GOOD!

[Sue Eckel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptionally well-written

I can totally relate to these authors, having had a mentally ill mother who first manifested her illness when I was twelve. Although my mother did not commit suicide, her recovery, although lengthy, did not leave her 100% the same person she was before. The women who shared their story here seem to be articulate, courageous women who triumphed with their own lives in spite of their tragedy.

[Vickie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too early?

If this book is based on truth, then perhaps it was written while still too painful, or for the wrong audience, but there were too many typos, to overlook, creating frustration that caused me to have to go back and re_read the previous writings, looking for something that bore a resemblance of mystique, in a slight attempt to veil the pain_staking predictabilities..

[Mikey Goodmark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting

Good book interesting point of view. It is hard to read a first hand account of dealing with mental illness especially having dealt with it first habd.