Brilliant Madness

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 serious-but-treatable-mental illness called manic depression. For nearly twenty years, until she was correctly diagnosed at age thirty-five, she careened between periods of extreme euphoria and debilitating depression, prone to delusions and panic attacks, temper tantrums, spending sprees, and suicide attempts. Now in A Brilliant Madness Patty Duke joins with medical reporter Gloria Hochman to shed light on this powerful, paradoxical, and destructive illness. From what it's like to live with manic-depressive disorder to the latest findings on its most effective treatments, this compassionate and eloquent book provides profound insight into the challenge of mental illness. And though Patty's story, which ends in a newfound happiness with her cherished family, it offers hope for all those who suffer from mood disorders and for the family, friends, and physicians who love and care for them.

These poems, taken from the last decade of Drake's work, trace the devolution of a society gone brilliantly mad.

“This Is Your Brain on Joy is a thoughtful, practical, life-changing book that will help you take advantage of the latest neuroscience research—combined with biblical insights—to bring more joy and love into your life.” —from the Foreword by Daniel G. Amen, MD Author and speaker for the PBS special Change Your Brain, Change Your Life What does your brain have to do with experiencing joy? A lot more than most of us realize. In this breakthrough book, Dr. Earl Henslin reveals how the study of brain imaging turned his practice of psychotherapy upside down—with remarkably positive results. He shares answers to puzzling questions, such as Why isn’t my faith in God enough to erase my blue moods? Why haven’t I been able to conquer my anger? Pray away my fear and worry? Why can’t I find freedom from secret obsessions and addictions? Using the Brain System Checklist, Dr. Henslin explains what happens to the 5 Mood Centers in the brain when any of those areas are out of balance. This is great news, especially for those tortured by the fear that something is fundamentally wrong with them when the problem actually lies between their ears. Read this practical, easy-to-understand, and often entertaining book, and you’ll know exactly how to nourish your mind, balance your brain, and help others do the same. After all, the capacity for joy is a terrible thing to waste.

Surviving Manic Depression is the most authoritative book on this disorder, which affects more than two million people in the U.S. alone. Based on the latest research, it provides detailed coverage of every aspect of manic depression-from understanding its causes and treatments to choosing doctors and managing relapses-with guidance drawn from the latest scientific information. Drs. Torrey and Knable provide thorough, up-to-date coverage of all aspects of the disease, including a detailed description of symptoms (with many direct descriptions from patients themselves), risk factors, onset and cause, medications (including drugs still in the testing stage), psychotherapy, and rehabilitation, as well as information about how the disease affects children and adolescents. Here too are discussions of special problems related to manic depression, including alcohol and drug abuse, violent behavior, medication noncompliance, suicide, sex, AIDS, and confidentiality. Surviving Manic Depression also includes special features such as a listing of selected websites, books, videotapes, and other resources.

This book is not a biography about a man, but rather it is about a Journey. This is a Journey through life, with this illness, Bipolar Disorder, and all the dynamics that go along with it. This book shows how a man faced the consequences of this disease, and all its pain, bigotry and anguish, but this journey also shows how he defeated the disease. This is a book of his Journey through trauma, tragedy, and recovery. This book is a riveting account of that journey. It includes others who have suffered the indignities of this illness. It brings to life an account of a story that could be written by many different people over time. Destroying a life to save the same life could be construed by many as an oxymoron. However, in this case, it fits the scenario perfectly. As in the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, there had to be destruction of one's inner-self to save everyone from the inner-demons plaguing Dr. Jekyll.

More information to be announced soon on this forthcoming title from Penguin USA

This book emerged out of a website, the Icarus Project, which has been helping a brilliant and disparate group of folks find ways to talk about manic depression that make sense to the people living with it, and helps them to live better lives rather than backing them into corners. This book began as a way of bringing these conversations onto the written page and into the hands of people who might not spend time on the internet. It has evolved to be a set of alternative roadmaps for people who are trying to take care of themselves and live out their dreams. Now in a new revised, expanded tenth anniversary edition!

Two headstrong conservative Mormon housewives, bent on preserving open space near Utahs Jordan River for their children and coming generations, speak out publicly against a multimillion-dollar commercial project that would encroach on the river and destroy wildlife habitat. They are promptly sued by the wealthy, influential, and powerful developers for $1.7 million. When these women choose to stand their ground and fight, the developers do everything in their power to use these women as whipping moms so that no citizen or city will ever dare oppose their developments in the future. On these bones of a classic American story (based on actual events), a cast of fascinating characters fleshes out. A bipolar lone-wolf environmental activist forms an alliance with the women and becomes the storys x-factor. A diverse team of lawyers, including a civil rights attorney, supply the women with legal assistance. The developers network of family members, business associates, political cronies, judges, and church leaders reaches deep into small-town Salt Lake County. Here, they inevitably cross paths with the housewives and their allies. Neighborhood vandalism, vicious gossip, and dirty tricks ensue. The two beleaguered housewives and their ragtag grassroots supporters hunker down to resist a brutal lawsuit, intended to shut them up and break them with legal bills. An important environmental fight morphs into an even more significant battle for free speech. Will a glass and concrete city rise in the river bottoms?