The Up and Down Life: The Truth About Bipolar Disorder – the Good, the Bad, and the Funny by Paul E. Jones
Stars: *****
Penguin Group (2008)
Psychology
240 pages
I purchased this book. This post contains affiliate links.
Summary:
Paul Jones, a stand-up comedian and workshop leader who suffers from bipolar disorder, uses humor, honesty, and hard-won practical advice to dispel the stigma surrounding mental illnesses and shed light on the challenges of living with bipolar disorder.
Offering an intimate view of life with bipolar disorder—including the most common mistakes bipolar individuals make and how to avoid them— and covering every aspect from diagnosis, social life, home life, and career, this is an accessible and engaging guide from someone who’s been there and can help readers cope and thrive.
This book is different than other Bipolar books out there, in a good way. The majority are either memoir or medical books describing symptoms and treatments. This book is a good mixture of both, detailing the life of comedian Paul Jones in regards to his mental health.
He includes quotes from other people with Bipolar among his writings.
He covers:
- Getting on the path to getting better
- What it feels like to have bipolar disorder
- Family connections, predispositions, and other vulnerabilities
- Reaching a diagnosis
- Prescription medications and their benefits and staying medicated.
- Staying motivated, and taking your bipolar pulse
- Living with someone who’s living with bipolar disorder
- What family, friends, bosses, and coworkers need to know (or not)
- Making peace with your past and repairing damage
He manages to cover important topics like picking a doctor, taking your medication and who and when to tell people about your Bipolar without being solely a how to book or solely a memoir.
The author’s website used to be BipolarBoy.com but the website and Facebook seem to no longer be there.
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