The Years of Silence Are Past: My Father's Life with Bipolar Disorder

This work presents the life history of a philosopher who experienced severe, recurrent, and misdiagnosed mental disorder. The compelling narrative portrays the father's seventy-five years: his childhood and adolescence, his high levels of achievement, intermixed with recurrent episodes and brutal hospitalizations, his marriage and family life, his tenderness as a father, and his gradual decline following years of maltreated bipolar disorder. Themes of self-image, resilience, causes of serious mental disorder, accurate diagnosis and appropriate treatment, and linkages between social context and mental disturbance are intermixed with the narrative. Alternately harrowing and uplifting, this work captures the experience of growing up in a family with severe mental illness as well as the courage and dignity that can emanate from mental disorder. This poignant work will be of strong interest to the public at large and to those in the mental health fields.