"Madness: A Biopolar Life" by Marya Hornbacher

299 pages

When Marya Hornbacher wrote her first memoir, "Wasted", about her struggle with anorexia and bulimia, she did not yet know the underlying reason behind her eating disorder. Then, at the age of 24, she was diagnosed with rapid-cycle Type 1 bipolar disorder, the most sever form of the disease. Knowing what was wrong helped, but her life by no means settled down after that. For years, as Marya struggled to find the right combinations of medication and therapy, she engaged in self-starvation, drug and alcohol abuse, self-mutilation, and other destructive behaviors in reaction to her violently shifting mood swings. This memoir depicts her journey to rock bottom and back--more than once--and sheds light on what it's like inside the mind of someone with bipolar disorder.

There's a lot of mental illness in my family history, and it fascinates me. Though Marya's memoir is often difficult to read, I commend her for writing it. She comes across as completely open and honest, which made me feel invested in her story as I read. Watching her struggle is heartbreaking, but I think a lot of people will relate to her inner turmoil. Hopefully, her story has helped and will help people understand that mental illness is a real, biological problem that needs to be treated like any other disease, but with special considerations. The stigma associated with mental disorders is a lot better than it used to be, but it can and will hopefully improve even more in the future as we understand more about these diseases.