Befriending Bipolar: A patient's perspective

by Oliver Seligman

What is it like to be overtaken by mental illness and completely lose yourself in madness? With staggering insight and brutal honesty, Oliver Seligman describes what insanity is like from the inside. Diagnosed with type one bipolar at seventeen. Oliver has battled with euphoric manias, suicidal depressions, bewildering psychoses and the side effects of psychiatric medication. In this enlightening book, he writes about how he found peace with an illness that destroys lives and sometimes ends them. Sharing what worked and what didn't work for him, as well as the mistakes he made and the traps he fell into. If you want to learn more about bipolar or depression from someone who has experienced it, this book is for you. Oliver Seligman is a monk, author and inspirational speaker. He has spent twenty years travelling the world, helping people to find peace through meditation. In doing so, he has developed insight into the workings of the mind and what makes us happy or unhappy.

Genres: Mental Health

215 pages, Paperback

Published May 18, 2021

Reviews

[Mayra Cisneros · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED Befriending Bipolar, read it cover to cover in a few hours!

Oliver Seligman tells his story in such a light, yet educating way that makes it easier for those who have never experienced mental illnesses to get a cleared perspective of what it is like for the patient while taking away the stigma around the topic.

This book is a gem.

[Adrian Courage · Rating 5 out of 5]

This very well-written and engaging book provides a deep insight into the author's life with bipolar disorder. This differs greatly from my own experiences, but I was interested in particular to read about his multiple psychoses and their accompanying hallucinations. Having spent many months manic myself and suffering hospitalisation due to psychosis, this was particularly relevant to me. The experience of psychosis (I felt I was on a mission and as a result ran through the streets naked) is very personal and often lacking from writing about bipolar, or rather bipolar 1, which is the version that comes with manic psychosis. An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison is one example of this phenomenon. By contrast, Oliver was extremely open and honest about what happened to him at this time, which was very refreshing. I also found the description of ‘euphoric mania', which is something I lived through for weeks and months at a time (and something I thoroughly enjoyed, apart from the sleep deprivation), an incredibly accurate reflection of my own encounters with mania. Finally, I am always interested in other people’s experiences on medication and Oliver’s repeated attempts to wean himself off lithium were a real eye-opener, although I am lucky not to suffer any real side effects from taking lithium (other medications have taken their toll, however). All in all, this is absolutely a must read for anyone affected by bipolar disorder.

[Louise O'Byrne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting perspective of one person's experience of bipolar.