Joyride: a "must-read" | |
Life on a roller-coaster. Living well with depression and manic depression. Madeleine Kelly. Sydney: Simon & Schuster, 2000 (xiv + 242pp). ISBN 0 7318 0948 3. |
THE "ROLLER-COASTER" of Kelly's superb book is bipolar disorder, although it is clear that she has disdain for the modern terminology, preferring the more descriptive rubric "manic depression". Kelly's book is timely. Far from being an uncommon disorder, as taught in my undergraduate days, it is now known that bipolar disorder affects 1% to 2% of the community. Furthermore, it was found to be the sixth most disabling medical condition in the recent WHO and World Bank Global Burden of Disease report.1 Life on a roller-coaster has immediately gone into my "must-read" trilogy for patients/consumers with this illness (and their families and friends). The other two in trilogy are Kay Jamison's the An unquiet mind (Knopf, 1995) and Margo Orum's Fairytales in reality (Pan Macmillan, 1996). While Jamison's and Orum's books are autobiographical, Kelly's book is a thoughtful and practical survival guide to the condition, or, in her own terms, "living well" with it. She brings an intriguing life experience to this book. Qualified as a medical practitioner, Kelly has experienced the "roller-coaster" first hand for many years, and has since worked as a secretary and writer. The book provides an accessible and articulate smorgasbord of information on bipolar disorder, but, more evocatively, guidance on how to live with it. It is an easy read, but could also be delved into piecemeal as a resource on diverse topics such as treatments (drug and non-drug); study and work; managing money; relationships; spirituality and mania; and bringing up children as a parent with bipolar disorder. Kelly is at her most incisive and dryly humorous when talking about surviving the medical system. She gives delicious guidelines on how to choose a psychiatrist, and the differences between public and private institutions. For example: "Activities available in public psychiatric hospitals are typically limited to smoking and watching television. If you can concentrate, bring a book or learn to like daytime television!" Her over-riding message, though, is upbeat and positive but well grounded in reality: "This is the roller-coaster ride. Welcome aboard!" Philip Mitchell 1. Details of this report can be found at the following website: http://www.who.int/msa/mnh/ems/dalys/intro.htm
|