Written By: Michael Greenburg By: Megan Boisvert

It made me realize how horrible mental illness really is. It was interesting to hear about it from someone who has experienced it. It made me very interested in mental illness and what really happens and why it happens. I think that the subject is very interesting and I realized that I enjoy reading books about real metal illness in depth.

Connection: Bipolar Disorder 1  Bipolar Disorder 1 a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, activity level, and ability to carryout everyday tasks. Bipolar is thought to be a genetic disorder. Most people effected will experience severe mood changes that can last for years. These mood changes consist of manic episodes (energetic depression) and regular depression.

In the book the main character, Sally, has Bipolar disorder. Throughout the book she experiences a long manic episode. It lasts at least for a month. Then there is a long process of recovery with lots of medications to help her mind return to reality. In the book they say that she has trouble telling what are real feelings/ actions and what are not real. After she came out of her first manic episode she went three years until her next one. After she was diagnosed, she went through periods of “normalcy” and manic episodes. An example or her manic episodes from the book: Sally’s were amplified. She said she had an epiphany that all people were geniuses and she ran through the streets trying to explain her visions to strangers passing by.

I would recommend it to people who are interested in reading about mental illness. Especially if they want to understand the real story. The author/father describes what it’s like for him to experience first hand mental illness. It gives real life details and real insight into what being in a mental institution is like. I would absolutely recommend it to someone who is dealing with a family member who has a mental illness. I think that it could give someone in the same situation a good idea of what they are going with as they deal with this issue.

Family impact of mental illness: The author/father describes his experiences with dealing with Sally. Also he talks about how it effects his family and career. He talks about how it effects their living situation and also their finances. He also tells us about his brother also suffers from mental illness.

I think that he absolutely got the interest accuracy perfectly. He is selling the idea of the real story about mental illness and what it’s like for a father to deal with his daughters madness. It’s a really interesting book idea that I think would draw in more interest than a fiction book about the same thing.

This book is very important because it talks about the real life affects of mental illness on families. It helps others learn about what mental illness really does to people and that it is truly a medical condition rather than something that a person chooses. It is often purely biological and completely out of their control.