My Kind of Crazy: Living in a Bipolar World

My Kind of Crazy was chosen as Honorable Mention in the Writer's Digest Magazine's 17th Annual International Self-Published Book Awards in the Inspirational category. I am an expert on being crazy. My kind of crazy is known as bipolar disorder. Although my case is more severe than most, I am not alone. One in four suffer from a mental illness in a given year. This is a staggering statistic. Yet the stigma attached to mental illness persists. Many diagnosed with a mental illness suffer in silence due to the shame associated with it. There are countless books that approach the subject from a clinical and/or psychoanalytical perspective. My book, however, focuses on the human experience of living with a mental illness. Being bipolar brings with it the very highs and lows of emotion, and my story is written in the same way. The journey on which I take the reader is not a depressing one. There is much humor to be found and many lessons to be learned after one is diagnosed.  I bring the reader with me on the emotional roller coaster that is my life. With my story, I hope to dismantle the shame that one with a similar illness might experience. For me, once I accepted and embraced my kind of crazy, I found I was able to heal and move forward to help change the societal perception of mental illness. Not unlike diabetes, mental illness should be understood on a biochemical level, not be viewed as a character flaw. When the brain gets sick, it exhibits symptoms that need to be addressed and managed just like any other illness.