A Brilliant Madness: Living with Manic-Depressive Illness

by Patty Duke

Book Overview

In her revealing bestseller Call Me Anna, Patty Duke shared her long-kept secret: the talented, Oscar-winning actress who won our hearts on The Patty Duke Show was suffering from a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553072560
• ISBN13: 9780553072563
• Release Date: June 1992
• Publisher: Bantam Books
• Length: 285 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

This book changed my life!

Several yeas ago I bought this book because I believed my mother had Bipolar dissorder. I read this book and as I read it I realized not only did I see my own mother in this book, but I also saw myself. ALL my life I knew I was "different", and knew something just wasn't right. But when I read about Patty Duke and her own mood swings I knew I had bipolar dissorder. So I went to my doctor and handed him the book and said "I think I have this"...he asked many questions and in the end agreed with me, put me on lithium and from that day forward my life changed. Patty Duke's words saved my life. Her own story should be an encouragement to all who suffer from this horrible mental illness. She helped to break the stereotypes that go along with mental illness...I thank her for that, and for helping me to finally get a name to what was wrong with me all my life!

Incredible, informative and easy to read and understand.

Having a child with manic depressive illness was an unexpected event to say the least. This book put all I needed to know about being bi-polar into an easy to read and understand read. I run a support group for parents of bi-polar children and I advise them all to read this book before deciding if their child does or dosen't have this illness..They are usually all amazed how similar their children are to this book.

finally! Some real answers to all my questions

Patty Duke's book A Brilliant Madness is the first real good information about bi-polar disorder I have been able to put my hands on! The medical backup informatiom that Gloria Hochman contributes has given me an almost umlimited list of resources to also turn to. I read this book because my 9yr old son and my current husband are both diagnosed as bi-polar, but as I read this intense book I was amazed by feelings of fear, relief, sadness, and anger. I was able to relate to much of what I read and began to see myself which is scary. I now want to find help for all of us as our area is devoid of support groups and other local means of coping with this illness. This book is truly "Brilliant" in both the writing style and the content and has given me some hope in an otherwise bleak future. I strongly recomend this book to anyone where Manic Depression has touched their lives.

Great!!!

Patty Duke's book is entertaining because she had a true Hollywood background. Contrary to some reviews that criticized her writing style, I thought it was clear, warm and easy to read. The informative chapters are the best I've ever read about manic depressive illness and the footnotes and research listed are exhaustive. This book was co-authored by another talented lady. I'm bipolar and if I'd have to choose a book that best describes this illness, I'd choose this. She has the spirit of a loving mother reaching out to make you feel better.

Insightful, informative and well-written.

Patty Duke has brought bipolar affective disorder (Manic Depression) "out of the closet" and given those with the illness better insight into why they feel the way they do. Co-authoring with a medical writer was a *brilliant* idea. We read Patty's story, then we read the medical side of the story. The only thing I found disturbing was, like Dr Kay Jamison, Patty claims a Lithium a day does the trick. This can be misleading when many bipolars have to have meds assessed and re-assessed many many times. This gives the reader the undertone that if you're not a Lithium-responder, you're not quite right. Otherwise, an excellent book on the topic!