We Heard the Angels of Madness
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List Price: $14.95
Our Price: $11.96
Your Save: $ 2.99 ( 20% )
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Manufacturer: Harper Paperbacks
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 616.8950092
EAN: 9780688116156
ISBN: 0688116159
Label: Harper Paperbacks
Manufacturer: Harper Paperbacks
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 312
Publication Date: 1992-06-29
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Release Date: 1992-06-29
Studio: Harper Paperbacks
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Editorial Reviews:
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When eighteen-year-old Mark returned home from his first semester at college, his family thought he was on drugs. In fact, he was suffering from manic depression, a devastating mental illness that affects millions of Americans and their loved ones. Diane Berger is Mark's mother and Lisa Berger is Diane's sister. Together they share both the intimate and inspiring story of how their family coped with Mark's illness and the valuable information they gathered about manic depression over the course of his treatment: up-to-date facts on drugs, doctors, therapy, insurance, and other resources. They reveal how to identify the symptoms of manic depression and avoid a false diagnosis, which treatments work and which don't -- as well as the emotional experience of a mother battling for the sanity and well-being of her child. Here is the story of emotional and dramatic power; here also is an invaluable guidebook through the medical mazes and challenges of surviving mental illness.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: A bizarre depiction of Bipolar Illness
Comment: As a longtime sufferer of Bipolar Illness, I found this account overly dramatic and somewhat misleading. First, Mark (the patient) is depicted as a pampered, privileged son of a doting, schizophrenigenic mother and a cold, unfeeling father. These superfluous characterizations make it difficult for the reader to curry any sympathy for any of them. Secondly, the presentation of his illness is uncharacteristic of most cases of Bipolar Illness. He clearly suffers severe delusions and hallucinations, but any periods of depression or manic excitement are practically non-existent. The book presents the illness more as a thought disorder than as an affective one. While there frequently is some overlap, this case presents more like schizophrenia. Lastly, the commentary by the mother is so sentimental as to be sappy. While the informational content is somewhat informative and entertaining, I would not choose this book as an authoritative source on Bipolar Illness.
Customer Rating:
Summary: One family's story
Comment: This is one family's unique story - do not buy this book for help. It's interesting; that's about it. Better yet - check it out from your local library and return it when you're done. Spend your money on reference materials that you will want to keep handy.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Must-Read-Very Realistic
Comment: I've been looking for this book for a long time, having read it several years ago when I really needed to know I was not alone. The excellant format of personal experience balanced with factual medical information was extremely helpful, especially as it traces each step in the process from diagnosis to ultimately living with the disease of manic-depression - both for family and the "diagnosee".
Having been diagnosed myself in 1978, long before bi-polar disorder became a household word, this was one of the few books to actually combine personal experience, familial perspective, and medical fact in a very readable book. It had me from the first incident of throwing a microwave through a plate glass window, then sitting down and waiting for the police to arrive. (In my view a definite cry for help!) This book also gave me a parental perspective, thereby helping me to forgive my parents for the reactions they had and the actions they took in a time when there was little or no information available to them on manic-depression and it's manifestations. In addition, I was able to label some of my own thinking, (I came across the term "echolalia" for the first time) and discover elements of my actions actually were part of the disease, and not just my own "weirdness".
The thing I like best about this book today is that it is written by someone in the common walk of life. I have read Kay Jamison and Patty Duke, and have great respect for their contributions to the understanding of manic-depression/bi-polar disorder. I also own Mary Ann Copeland's books. But the Bergers are everyday people, and the biggest impact of their book (for me) is the hope inherent in their story: that despite the system, frustration and fear, love surmounts and life goes on. Considering that Bi-Polar disorder has become the diagnosis of the decade, and the research that indicates the hereditary elements of manic-depression, I am glad to find this book again, so that I can be helpful to my daughters, should the need arise. Definitely a "must-read" for anyone in the field of mental health, as well as anyone who knows anyone who has this disease.
Customer Rating:
Summary: We Heard the Angels of Madness
Comment: This book has a healthy mix of maternal and medical perspectives. Each chapter by authors Diane and Lisa Berger that spell out life with a bipolar, young-adult child written through a mother's eyes is followed by a chapter from a medical point of view. Because it is written in such an warm, easy style, it feels like we are talking with an old friend as we are taken from the initial denial at diagnosis, through the maze of today's incredibly complex, often contradictory mental health system, ending at a realistic understanding of bipolar disorder and what can be expected from treatment. Although the primary premise is to develop an awareness of bipolar disorder, any parent would relate to this mother's struggle through a child's difficult adolescence and ultimately knowing when it is time to let go.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Review of the Angels of Madness
Comment: This was a book by parents and I was not that used to that style. I was more used to the narrative style as in Patty Duke or Kay Jamison. It was interesting to hear both parents points of view and you could see how much they cared about their son. However being a manic-depressive my self and in the middle of trying to write my own biography I felt that the people involved were both like my parents back in 1975. Neither of them connects a spritiual connection to the illness. I was so moved myself through my manias that I came to believe in Jesus Christ where I was raised in an agonostic Jewish household where there was no religion or spirtiuality at all. Through reading Mark's account it was obvious to me in quite a few occasions that Mark was being moved by the Holy Spirit but his parent's always thought that these insights to God that Mark was getting were just his psychosis and had nothing to do with God. Mrs. Berger admitted that they were not Christians but agostics there by dismissing Mark's visions as mere delusions. I hope that Mark will be able to get a firmer grasp on what has happened to him, because I truly believe that we manic depressives have been touched in a special way by God, I know that I have. People often times do not want to acknowledge Jesus in the psychiatric community however many of the patients still know the truth and still believe in Christ and I hope that Mark comes to Christ as well.
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