I have lived with mental illness for as long as I can remember. There isn’t a single day without anxiety or dark thoughts. It is something I have accepted—something I will most likely have to live with for the rest of my life. During my years within psychiatric care, I have had both good and bad experiences, but for the most part I have been treated kindly by the healthcare system. Several diagnoses and conditions have come to shape my time on this earth, one of which psychiatry is currently planning to assess me for: bipolar disorder type II.
After a few searches via ChatGPT, I purchased this book. My goal was to educate myself on the subject and gain a better understanding of the illness ahead of the upcoming assessment. Unfortunately, I do not feel that the book achieved this. Instead, it felt like reading an endless opinion piece. I would estimate that only about 15% of the book actually dealt with bipolar disorder. Her name was completely unfamiliar to me prior to this. Rather than a raw and emotional narrative, it felt as though I had been transported to a Wikipedia page filled with irregular sentences, strange anecdotes, and skewed expressions. Toward the end, I felt extremely misled by all the vagueness, as the book turned out to lean far more toward philosophy than information.
The first part of the book was somewhat more helpful in describing the diagnosis. There, the reader gets insight into how bipolar disorder affects Ann and how a hypomanic episode can feel from her perspective. These sections were helpful—but they were also few, which lowers the overall rating. While there were many beautiful and memorable phrases, there was also a great deal that made me question her way of thinking.
Among other things, Ann expresses the view that mental illness does not necessarily need to become more socially accepted. She seems to carry the belief that conversations about mental illness do not benefit people, which I find completely absurd. Since when has knowledge not been beneficial to humanity? Knowledge is precisely what has allowed us to come as far as we have.
As someone who has lived with severe mental illness for most of my life, I want to strongly emphasize that society has an enormous amount to learn about its more fragile fellow human beings. I felt compelled to write this review to challenge her narrative—especially when she, after what felt to me like a mental whiplash, writes the following:
“Anxiety, depression, psychosis, and bipolar disorder are all illnesses with high mortality rates. This is about life and death. It is serious. As serious as cancer, HIV, and other somatic illnesses.”
I loved this sentence. It became one of my favorite parts of the entire book. It is powerful, clear, and almost revolutionary in how it equates mental illness with physical disease. At the same time, it made me question her message even more, since the very same page begins with her stating that spreading information about mental illness is not particularly important. Writing this further down on the same page made me wonder how her reasoning is meant to fit together.
Despite the fact that parts of the book clash with my own values, there was, of course, stronger content as well. I learned, among other things, that people with bipolar disorder have a significantly higher mortality rate than my naïve mind would like to believe😔💔
One study mentioned shows that over 50% of individuals with bipolar disorder attempt suicide at least once in their lifetime. My immediate follow-up thought was: think about everyone who did not participate in the study. Think about all those who fall under the radar. Why? Because mental illness is not talked about enough.
Something that personally inspires me is when public figures speak openly about their mental health conditions. It gives me a sense that I am not alone or different. That is why I appreciated that Ann references around thirty successful individuals throughout the book who have histories of mental illness. Among other things, I learned that Winston Churchill is believed to have suffered from bipolar disorder—or manic depression, as it was called in the past.
Another part that stood out to me was her discussion of how the media portrays psychiatry, psychiatric care, and people with mental illness. Especially the section where she highlights how many people seem to believe that mental hospitals are filled with potential murderers—which is simply not true. I would argue that most people in locked psychiatric wards are not dangerous to anyone other than themselves. There is a lot to take away from that line of reasoning.
The mere fact that words like bipolar are used to describe the weather, or that retarded is still used to describe clumsy situations, shows how much we still have left to learn from one another.