"Have you lost friends due to your mental illness?  I know I have few friends left myself.  This wonderfully touching book is about friendship.  A friendship spanning an ocean.  Both people living in different countries but yet have such an incredible bond. 

   Fran has Bipolar Disorder, Fibromyalgia, and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Martin is always there for her.  Either by  way of Skype, text message or by phone.  They even met once in person!

   What I really respected  about this friendship is that Martin treats Fran like a friend first.  When Fran is symptomatic, Martin, who is part of her support team, steps in with gentle reminders or words of encouragement so Fran doesn't totally rely on his which allows her to gain independence.

   I thoroughly enjoyed "High Tide Low Tide:  A Caring Friend's Guide to Bipolar Disorder"  because of the many comical conversations between Fran and Martin; just like two "normal" friends would have and so it should be!

   

   A story  of a woman's struggle with a serious mental illness and various physical ailments.

     For as far back as Stephanie could remember   she had always felt uncomfortable in her own skin.  She had been an emotional roller coaster and struggled with her sexual orientation.  Coming from a  very strict family neither of these were topics that could be discussed so sadly  Stephanie had to battle her demons on  her own.

     Her schizoaffective disorder raged on and she experienced dozens upon dozens of overlapping hallucinations which resulted in numerous hospitalizations.  Stephanie's hallucinations were so believable to her that at one point she ended up serving time for a crime.  Her mania caused her to lose everything; her wife, her family, her career, and much more.

​     I did enjoy reading Stephanie Anne Allen's, "My Mental Madness Memoir" as it was an incredible  narrative story.

    In  all fairness to the author, in my opinion, she must have been terribly ill while writing this book because the flow of the book is quite choppy, there is a lot of repetition and redundancy.   I questioned her  accuracy to details given her psychotic state to which she responded  that "she was a genius and  God told her what to write".

​     This book  was gifted to me in exchange for an honest review.

​      A man with mania.   An exhausted mother. Who saves whom?

​Startling.  Graphic.  Emotional.  Candid.
  “Donovan” The Movie is based on the true story of Jason Bees’s lived experience with Bipolar Disorder.

​  Amy Gamble, the author, had it all; she worked for a large pharmaceutical company, had many friends, a loving supportive family, and was an Olympic basketball player.

​   Molly McHugh, the author, has been through a lot in her life.  From being diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder 1, a chronic daily pain illness, fibromyalgia, and hypothyroidism, all while being a single mom.

​   Fred Von Gunten’s book, “Power of Positivity:  For Bipolar & Anyone Else”, goes into great detail about the author’s 40 years with Bipolar Disorder 1 and how a continual positive approach changed his life.