The Pits and the Pendulum: A Life with Bipolar Disorder

by Brian Adams

Overview

Spending a week doing nothing but exploring the possibilities of Lego, thereby risking yet another job; impulsively sinking all his savings into wildly impractical self-employment ventures; sleepless nights, gripped by the need to write - these are just some manifestations of the often damaging periods of manic, uninhibited energy Brian Adams has experienced since his mid-twenties. But as a sufferer of bipolar disorder (also known as manic depression), he has been hospitalized several times with debilitating depression and undergone electric shock treatment, numerous drug therapies and even gone so far as to attempt to take his own life.

This engaging, humorous, sometimes dark and sometimes startling account gives rich insight into how it feels to live with bipolar disorder. It is illuminating, and entertaining, reading for people with mental health problems, their families and professional carers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781846423581
Publisher:	Kingsley, Jessica Publishers
Publication date:	09/15/2002
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	160
File size:	396 KB

About the Author

Brian Adams is fifty-five. He served an apprenticeship as a baker and confectioner, then trained in community education. Amongst his many jobs he has been a youth hostel warden, a residential childcare worker and a community development worker. Brian lives in Aberdeenshire.
Brian Adams first trained as a baker, then worked in youth and community services for many years. He has also been a journalist and a conservation officer, has run his own small business and done much voluntary work. He has suffered from bipolar disorder since his mid-twenties.

Table of Contents

Not A Survivor's Guide. Prologue. 1. Legoland and Holes in the Head - Mania. 2. The Pits - Depression. 3. Lost in Fife - The Beginning. 4. Flaming Buckets - Seventies Psychiatric Hospital I. 5. Pay and Free Uniform - Seventies Psychiatric Hospital II. 6. Talking to God - Suicide. 7. Christopher Columbus, David Livingstone and Me - Work. 8. One of Us - Famous Manic-Depressives. 9. Babes in my Moods - Paranoia. 10. Not Work, Not Working - Breakdown. 11. Sideways Through the Torphins HaLF-edj - Ambulance Journey. 12. Pantiled Peep Show - Modern Psychiatric Hospital Building. 13. Psychos! Acute Psychiatric Ward. 14. Tack Short of a Fitted Carpet - Synonyms. 15. The Last Time I Saw Linda - Electroconvulsive Therapy. 16. Sweet Violets - The Psychotherapist. 17. Sweating it out with the Professionals - Doctors and Nurses. 18. …and Mopped up by the System - Hospital Appearances. 19. Concessionville - Getting Around. 20. Show Folks - Social Wipeout. 21. The Choir Lady - Making Things Worse. 22. Only a Salt - Prescription Drugs. 23. Another Way of Being - Something to Celebrate?

Editorial Reviews

Brian's memoir is in large part an effort to recoup some of his losses by making sense of them and contributing something to the rest of us...He has succeeded in what he set out to do. He has shown us that he is a credible witness and he has articulated some important realities about mental health...HE exhibits an awesome combination of honesty, compassion and determination to continue living in spite of it all.

Metapsychology