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This was a really interesting book, half-memoir/half-history of lithium. #memoir

Listened to this one and thoroughly enjoyed Lowe‘s voice, literal and figurative. The history of psych drugs and lithium is fascinating and Lowe‘s personal story is too.

Interesting brief natural history lithium, psychology, psychiatry, and good memoir of going crazy and coming back. I love the dizzying cover and it matches my skull succulent planter and phone case. Fun color scheme, and a pretty fun read.

The last part of Mental detailing Jaime‘s research of lithium has piqued my interest of the Bolivian salt flats. I had no idea! So cool!

Listening to Poe and reading about the second manic episode on a beautiful sunny day.

Starting this today. I had ordered it a few months ago, and just got to other books first. Pleasantly surprised to find this lovely bookmark from the seller. Maybe a calm before the storm? Here we go, into a potential world of chaos and insanity!

#readingforwork

Plenty of truth here:

“There were moments of intensity that would devolve into hysteria and my brother would chant: ‘Calm down, Jaime. Calm down.‘

Mary Karr once wrote, ‘In the entire history of anxiety worldwide, telling someone to calm down has worked zero times.‘

‘Calm down‘ should only be used in response to watching someone win the lottery. I was not calm. Would never be calm. I would never want to be calm. Calming down was for suckers.”

“That concept is particularly complicated for a teenager— to be told that confidence is a sign of sickness— at the very time when you are losing all confidence anyway. It‘s like a double hit of shattered self-esteem. I was already closed by adolescence and now I was hyper aware of hyperactivity, of feeling too good, too complicated, too much.”

(Another glimpse @TrishB )

“For mental health coverage and the study of it to advance at all, physical health must be regarded as something that encompasses both body & mind. But health insurance companies & the pharma industry don‘t seem remotely interested in a health care system that would contribute to overall health. In fact, the labyrinthine process for reimbursement, coverage, rules and regulations for both doctors & patients amplifies mental illness & anxiety.”

As Sylvia Plath wrote, “When you are insane, you are busy being insane— all the time.”

Yes.

Jaime‘s a stellar writer, self-deprecating, honest, weird. Recommend for anyone who is/knows someone struggling. She knows how lucky she is w/ an emotional/financial support system and living in a time when diagnosis of mental illness is considered legitimate.

I picked up this book b/c of my lowest point: I too couldn‘t sleep. If I did sleep I suffered through waking nightmares. Awake I was hallucinating & paranoid.

I needed this story.🤘🏻

First print read of 2018. Rough subject & brutal honesty. 🤘🏻

This was raw and honest, but I quickly became bored. I applaud the author for the success she‘s found despite her difficulties, but the story just didn‘t hold my interest.

In Mental, Jaime Lowe gives readers a glimpse into her life with bipolar disorder. We learn about her personal history (diagnosis, institutionalization and treatment) and personal struggles. We follow her journey as she learns more about her little pink pills and eventually comes to grips with her illness. Her writing style was gritty and pretty straight to the point but the subject matter was markedly less so. Highly recommend!

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Been awake for about 2 hours now so I guess going back to sleep is out 😥😥😥 Gonna try to finish this one before the sun comes up

Here Jaime describes how she felt on 9/11 as she watched the Twin Towers fall. With everything and everyone else around her in upheaval, she seemed to feel almost calm and at peace.

I can't even imagine how this must feel. To feel this amazing only to cross the entire spectrum and experience the complete opposite right after. My heart aches for this woman as I read her words... To know that this is part of her normal. She eventually feels so good that she stops taking Lithium and inevitably spirals...

#mentalhealth #bipolardisorder #mania #depression #lithium

I tore through this autobiographical introduction to bipolar disorder. Some of Jaime's memories are gut wrenching and awful, some are a hallucinogenic dream. She describes her quest to understand the disorder and the drug lithium, which helped her to achieve stability. Also, she's a brilliant writer. Highly recommend.

There were glimmers of good. But it was so hard. Depression is thick, endless lukewarm molasses.

I mourned Davis like a death in the family; college felt like a phantom limb.

I went to a junior high magnet school in south Los Angeles called Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies (LACES). We always thought the bloviating name was a misnomer, but we knew the words misnomer and bloviating, so who knows.

👤✨

My parents knew my behavior was not the norm. But adolescent psychosis raises the question: What is normal for a teenager?

Just got approved for this one. I finally figured out how to download it to my phone... Such a convoluted process. It better be worth it. Lol

In it, the author recalls her time struggling with bipolar disorder, her experiences with Lithium, and investigates the science and history of the drug.

I have high hopes for this one.

#arc #advancedreadercopy #FirstToRead #memoirs #mentalhealth