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A Case of Hysteria

Maybe She's Born With It

First-hand narratives by formerly institutionalized patients reveal the mysterious inner workings of the human brain. Elyn Saks, winner of a MacArthur “Genius” grant and founder of USC’s Saks Institute for Mental Health Law, Policy, and Ethics, knew from an early age that there was something haunting her emotional well being. She has publicly acknowledged her struggle to balance bouts of schizophrenia with academic pursuits. Her 2007 autobiography The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness describes her harrowing experience being physically restrained and force-fed antipsychotic medication for five months in a psychiatric ward. Recent memoirs by both Ellen Forney and Rachel Lindsay about their mutual struggles with bipolar disorder take the form of graphic novels. While the nature of the medium lends at times a light-hearted approach to the dark subject matter of medication and therapy, Lindsay offers a sobering reminder that “You won’t know the shape of your own unraveling until it happens.”

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"In her early twenties in New York City, diagnosed with bipolar disorder, Rachel Lindsay takes a job in advertising in order to secure healthcare coverage for her treatment. But work takes a strange turn when she suddenly finds herself on the other side of the curtain, developing ads for an antidepressant drug. Day after day, she sees her own suffering in the ads she helps to create, trapped in an endless cycle of treatment, insurance and medication. Overwhelmed by the stress of her professional life and the self-scrutiny it inspires, she begins to destabilize and finds herself hospitalized against her will. In the ward, stripped of the little control over her life she felt she had, she struggles in the midst of doctors, nurses, patients and endless rules to find a path out of the hospital and this cycle of treatment. This is the author's story of being treated for a mental illness as a commodity and the often unavoidable choice between sanity and happiness."
"Rock steady: brilliant advice from my bipolar life is the eagerly awaited sequel/companion book to Forney's 2012 best-selling graphic memoir, Marbles: mania, depression, Michelangelo, and Me. Whereas Marbles was a memoir about her bipolar disorder, Rock Steady turns the focus outward, offering a self-help guide of tips, tricks and tools by someone who has been through it all and come through stronger for it"-- Amazon.com. Introduction : Hello! -- Chapter 1. Basics : wide-ranging but totally doable whats & whys -- Chapter 2. Therapy : navigating your many options -- Chapter 3. Coping tools : Strategies & technique for steadying your mind & body -- Chapter 4. Insomnia : going to bed, getting to sleep, & sleeping all night -- Chapter 5. Dealing with meds : at home, while traveling, & side effects -- Chapter 6. The danger zone : identifying your warning signs & how to deal with them -- Chapter 7. You have company : finding like-minded people, getting beyond stigma, & knowing for sure that you're not alone -- Chapter 8. You rock : it's a lot of stuff but you got this!
Shortly before her thirtieth birthday, Ellen Forney was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Flagrantly manic but terrified that medications would cause her to lose her creativity and livelihood, she began a years-long struggle to find mental stability without losing herself or her passion. Searching to make sense of the popular concept of the "crazy artist, " Ellen found inspiration from the lives and work of other artist and writers who suffered from mood disorders, including Vincent van Gogh, Georgia O'Keeffe, William Styron, and Sylvia Plath.