I’m bipolar II and a Better Person Because of It

I’m bipolar II and a Better Person Because of It

The following is an excerpt from my upcoming memoir, BrainStorm: From Broken to Blessed on the Bipolar Spectrum.  My best friends and my family know about my bipolar brain, but being bipolar II is not something that usually comes up in cocktail conversation. I fret...
The Soloist

The Soloist

The following is an excerpt from my upcoming memoir, BrainStorm: From Broken to Blessed on the Bipolar Spectrum.  Joe and I had heard that the film The Soloist had stellar performances by Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey, Jr., and since we had the rare treat of a Saturday...
Surgeon General warns of Youth Mental Health Crisis

Surgeon General warns of Youth Mental Health Crisis

The New York Times recently reported that the U.S. surgeon general, Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, “warned that young people are facing ‘devastating’ mental health effects as a result of the challenges experienced by their generation, including the coronavirus pandemic.” As one...
“Mental Illness.”

“Mental Illness.”

The following is an excerpt from my upcoming memoir, BrainStorm: From Broken to Blessed on the Bipolar Spectrum. I’m advocating that bipolar depression II is misnamed, misunderstood and misdiagnosed when we refer to it as a “mental illness.” If I had a knife in my...
“Bipolar II”

“Bipolar II”

Photo credit: Bipolar II Disorder: Recognition, Understanding, and Treatment, by Ed. Swartz, Holly A.Paperback The following is an excerpt from my upcoming memoir, BrainStorm: From Broken to Blessed on the Bipolar Spectrum. We drive back to Massachusetts from Florida...
Phoenix Rising

Phoenix Rising

The following is an excerpt from my upcoming memoir, BrainStorm: From Broken to Blessed on the Bipolar Spectrum. Jim Head was the anti-professor—young, cool, charismatic and infamous on campus. In 1981, when I took his course “Earth, Moon and Mars” (we called it,...
Joe was a Rock

Joe was a Rock

The following is an excerpt from my upcoming memoir, BrainStorm: From Broken to Blessed on the Bipolar Spectrum. How can a marriage survive when one partner loses her sanity, her sexuality, her capacity to mother, to work, to love and support her lover, to laugh,...
Coming Out, Ending the Stigma, Lifting the Shame

Coming Out, Ending the Stigma, Lifting the Shame

The following is an excerpt from my upcoming memoir, BrainStorm: From Broken to Blessed on the Bipolar Spectrum. I’m writing this partly because it’s healing for me to tell my story and partly because I wish I had found a guide like this, written from the inside, when...