Ellen Forney

Interesting account of cartoonist Forney's experience with being diagnosed as bipolar, her battle with the mental illness, and her interest in the link between mental illness and artistic creativity. Works terrifically in the graphic novel type format. Sometimes funny, or wryly self-deprecating, illustrations prevent the work getting bogged down in navel gazing gone too far, and add a lot of information besides.

As a companion read to rel="nofollow" target="_top">Too Bright To Hear, Too Loud To See, a recently released novel by Juliann Garey featuring a character who is bipolar (also an excellent read), this was good to read to gain further understanding of how individual the experience of being bipolar can be, while confirming the dire statistics associated with untreated illness and the difficulty of treating it. Lithium, the best med for treatment, has serious side effects such as drastically impaired short term memory and inability to think clearly. In Garey's novel lithium was the only med given attention, but as Forney's memoir talks about, a highly individualized cocktail of meds is the ultimate goal, and it can take years of trying different ones and adjusting dosages to get the patient balanced. In Forney's case, this took 4 years. Certainly makes me grateful for my one med I take that works great and is the only one I've ever had to try (not for being bipolar, obviously)!

… (mais)

An honest, funny, interesting and educational exploration of Ellen Forney's bipolar disorder. The story starts from just before she was diagnosed and was in, what is now obvious to her, as a manic phase. The bulk of the book describes how she and her doctor figured out the best way to treat the condition (which varies enormously for each individual) and how she learned to live with it. There's a very touching scene toward the end where the older Ellen talks to the younger, just struggling to accept the disease and what it means for her and her way of life.

Forney uses the comic medium exceedingly well to describe the experience of her condition - her art is expressive and communicates something of the manias and depressions very effectively. It's pleasingly varied to boot, drawing on her sketchbooks, and renditions of photographs. All in all, it adds up to a convincing and satisfying whole. Recommended.
… (mais)

This book was amazing. I think it saved my life. Her descriptions of bipolar disorder and wonderful drawings depicted the ups and downs perfectly. Before I read this book I had a lot of internalized stigma around bipolar disorder. The long list of famous people with Bipolar disorder gave me hope. It showed me that his was something that I could function with. That many people had before me. This book gave me hope that even though I'm not okay right now maybe some day I would be. Although it will be a long journey, and very hard, this book showed me that it could be done.… (mais)