
Madness
A Bipolar Life
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Narrated by:
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Tavia Gilbert
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By:
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Marya Hornbacher
About this listen
An astonishing dispatch from inside the belly of bipolar disorder, reflecting major new insights
When Marya Hornbacher published her first book, Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia, she did not yet have the piece of shattering knowledge that would finally make sense of the chaos of her life. At age 24, Hornbacher was diagnosed with type I rapid-cycle bipolar, the most severe form of bipolar disorder.
In Madness, in her trademark wry and utterly self-revealing voice, Hornbacher tells her new story. Through scenes of astonishing visceral and emotional power, she takes us inside her own desperate attempts to counteract violently careening mood swings by self-starvation, substance abuse, numbing sex, and self-mutilation. How Hornbacher fights her way up from a madness that all but destroys her, and what it is like to live in a difficult and sometimes beautiful life and marriage—where bipolar always beckons—is at the center of this brave and heart-stopping memoir.
Madness delivers the revelation that Hornbacher is not alone: Millions of people in America today are struggling with a variety of disorders that may disguise their bipolar disease. And Hornbacher's fiercely self-aware portrait of her own bipolar as early as age four will powerfully change, too, the current debate on whether bipolar in children actually exists.
Ten years after Kay Redfield Jamison's An Unquiet Mind, this storm of a memoir will revolutionize our understanding of bipolar disorder.
©2008 Marya Hornbacher (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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- By Casey Wagner on 10-17-11
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Resilience
- Two Sisters and a Story of Mental Illness
- By: Jessie Close, Pete Earley
- Narrated by: Jessie Close
- Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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The Close sisters are descended from very prominent and wealthy ancestors. When the Close sisters were very young, their parents joined a cult called the MRA, or Moral Rearmament. The family was suddenly uprooted to a cult school in Switzerland and, ultimately, to the Belgian Congo where their father became a surgeon in the war-ravaged republic, and ultimately the personal physician to President Mobutu.
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Resilience, Reliance and Family
- By Tina on 05-18-15
By: Jessie Close, and others
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Darkness Visible
- A Memoir of Madness
- By: William Styron
- Narrated by: William Styron
- Length: 2 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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A work of great personal courage and a literary tour de force, this bestseller is Styron's true account of his experience of crippling depression. Styron is perhaps the first writer to convey the full terror of depression's psychic landscape, as well as the illuminating path to recovery.
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Intimate and revealing
- By S. Yates on 01-31-18
By: William Styron
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I'm Not Crazy Just Bipolar
- By: Wendy K. Williamson
- Narrated by: Miranda Stewart
- Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Wendy K. Williamson shows the effects of bipolar disorder on the mind, body and soul of those who suffer from it. Despite Wendy's struggles, this is a not a book that brings the listener down, rather a road map for wellness and a vastly informative, yet entertaining, guided tour of bipolar disorder for those who don't understand it. With her perceptive self-awareness, the author is equal parts comedienne and educator, and she tells the unbelievable highs and lows of her story with a clear, grounded candor.
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A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF BIPOLAR
- By Fat Bottomed Girl on 11-02-18
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OMG That's Me!: Bipolar Disorder, Depression, Anxiety, Panic Attacks, and More...
- OMG That's Me!, Book 1
- By: Dave Mowry
- Narrated by: Ralph Scott, Kendra Murray
- Length: 2 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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What started out as a couple of blog posts blossomed into a following of over 1,000,000 people who have all read and been touched by Mowry's stories. The most extraordinary thing he found when writing about his experiences is that the most common comment about his work is OMG that's me. You are telling my story. I don't feel so alone now.
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this is literally me
- By Rbism on 07-16-23
By: Dave Mowry
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Obsessed
- A Memoir of My Life with OCD
- By: Allison Britz
- Narrated by: Emily Ellet
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Until sophomore year of high school, 15-year-old Allison Britz lived a comfortable life in an idyllic town. She was a dedicated student with tons of extracurricular activities, friends, and loving parents at home. But after awakening from a vivid nightmare in which she was diagnosed with brain cancer, she was convinced the dream had been a warning. Allison believed that she must do something to stop the cancer in her dream from becoming a reality.
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Wonderful book, but be careful if you also suffer from OCD
- By Anthony J. Tyler on 04-10-21
By: Allison Britz
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Loving Someone with Bipolar Disorder
- Understanding and Helping Your Partner
- By: Julie A. Fast, John D. Preton
- Narrated by: Jo Anna Perrin
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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An essential resource designed to help partners of people with bipolar disorder mend strained relationships, negotiate episodic crises, survive the turbulence manic behavior may cause, and more.
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Definitely worth the read
- By Tracy on 09-17-15
By: Julie A. Fast, and others
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The Bitter Taste of Dying
- A Memoir
- By: Jason Smith
- Narrated by: Paul Costanzo
- Length: 6 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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In his first book, author Jason Smith explores the depravity and desperation required to maintain an opiate addiction so fierce, he finds himself jumping continents to avoid jail time and learns the hard way that some demons cannot be outrun. While teaching in Europe, he meets a prostitute who secures drugs for him at the dangerous price of helping out the Russian Mafia; in China he gets his Percocet and Xanax fixes but terrifies a crowd of children and parents at his job in the process.
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The Amazing Race on narcotics
- By Midwestbonsai on 07-07-16
By: Jason Smith
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Elena Vanishing
- A Memoir
- By: Elena Dunkle, Clare B. Dunkle
- Narrated by: Lauren Fortgang
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Seventeen-year-old Elena is vanishing. Every day means renewed determination, so every day means fewer calories. This is the story of a girl whose armor against anxiety becomes artillery against herself as she battles on both sides of a lose-lose war in a struggle with anorexia.
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Eaten from Within
- By Susie on 09-16-15
By: Elena Dunkle, and others
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The Center Cannot Hold
- By: Elyn R. Saks
- Narrated by: Alma Cuervo
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Professor of psychiatry Elyn R. Saks writes about her struggle with schizophrenia in this unflinching account of her mental illness. In The Center Cannot Hold, Saks draws readers into a nightmare world of medications, a misguided health-care system, and social stigmas. But she would not be defeated. With a strength and force of will that most can only imagine, Saks reclaimed her life and went on to achieve great success.
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Schizophrenia Inside Out
- By Pamela Harvey on 07-23-09
By: Elyn R. Saks
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Empty
- A Memoir
- By: Susan Burton
- Narrated by: Susan Burton
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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For almost 30 years, Susan Burton hid her obsession with food and the secret life of compulsive eating and starving that dominated her adolescence. This is the relentlessly honest, fiercely intelligent story of living with both anorexia and binge-eating disorder, moving past her shame, and learning to tell her secret.
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Pick another book
- By A. I. Keller on 07-18-20
By: Susan Burton
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Divided Minds
- Twin Sisters and Their Journey Through Schizophrenia
- By: Pamela Spiro Wagner, Carolyn S. Spiro MD
- Narrated by: Kimberly Farr, Amanda Carlin
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Divided Minds is a dual memoir of identical twins, one of whom faces a life sentence of schizophrenia and the other who becomes a psychiatrist after entering the spotlight that had for so long been focused on her sister.
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intense!
- By Snow Dunn on 09-12-19
By: Pamela Spiro Wagner, and others
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The Best of Jeeves and Wooster
- By: P. G. Wodehouse
- Narrated by: Kevin Theis
- Length: 23 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Collected here are eleven of Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster short stories (comprising all of the Jeeves tales from "Carry On, Jeeves" and "My Man Jeeves") as well as the complete novels Right Ho, Jeeves and The Inimitable Jeeves. Along with Jeeves and Bertie, we are introduced to an entire cast of beloved Wodehouse characters: Gussie Fink-Nottle, Madeline Bassett, Bingo Little, James "Corky" Corcoran, Tuppy and Honoria Glossop, Rockmetteller Todd, and the terrifying and bombastic Aunt Agatha.
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Icky, Icky, Icky Pooh
- By Cenobite on 06-20-22
By: P. G. Wodehouse
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Bipolar Disorder (3rd Edition)
- A Guide for Patients and Families
- By: Francis Mark Mondimore MD
- Narrated by: Barry Abrams
- Length: 10 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Compassionate and comprehensive, Dr. Francis Mondimore's path-breaking guide has helped thousands of people and their loved ones cope with bipolar disorder. Now in its third edition, Bipolar Disorder has been thoroughly updated with new information about the causes of the disorder, tools for diagnosis, and advances in treatment.
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Great Book for All Involved
- By OkazakiFrag on 03-13-19
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Lit
- A Memoir
- By: Mary Karr
- Narrated by: Mary Karr
- Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Lit follows Mary Karr's descent into the inferno of alcoholism and madness - and her astonishing resurrection. Karr's longing for a solid family seems secure when her marriage to a handsome, Shakespeare-quoting poet produces a son they adore. But she can't outrun her apocalyptic past. She drinks herself into the same numbness that nearly devoured her charismatic but troubled mother, reaching the brink of suicide. A hair-raising stint in "The Mental Marriott" awakens her to the possibility of joy, and leads her to an unlikely faith.
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Finally! One for the "Win" column
- By Kim on 03-22-10
By: Mary Karr
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Bipolar Disorder for Dummies, 4th Edition
- By: Candida Fink MD, Joe Kraynak
- Narrated by: Ann Richardson
- Length: 18 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Bipolar Disorder For Dummies, 4th Edition explains everything about this common mental health diagnosis in easy-to-understand terms. This book helps make sense of options when it comes to medications, therapies, and treatments that could improve your quality of life. With compassionate advice and friendly insights, this book empowers you with the information you need to find support for yourself or assist a loved one who has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
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Much appreciated for taking the time to write this
- By Great resource on 12-19-24
By: Candida Fink MD, and others
Lets you empathize with those dealing with bipolar
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THANK YOU!!!!!
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Great story
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Deeply connecting
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very enlightening
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fantastic book!
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Exceptional performance and clarifying work
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Wow
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This is a great account of the challenges of the mania and depression that come with bipolar 1. It's not focused on the bipolar 2 experience which is comprised of very deep depression and hypomania. While I feel like it's a good book, it's not what was advertised.
Not about Bipolar 2
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The worst- writer uses no pronouns
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