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Rating: 
Summary: What a journey of a journaler!
Review: If there is any book that shows how keeping a journal can save your life, it is WRITING OUT THE STORM. Yes, it's a hard one to read, yet Rebecca Mitchell Merriman's enthusiasm for life & her attention to detail shine through. Yes, it is full of the angst & turmoil of mental illness, yet embedded in each & every chapter are the kernels of redemption & surcease, until she can no longer control her illness.That Rebecca Mitchell Merriman survived to tell her tale, with a lot of help from the steady companionship of her husband & their feline offspring, is undoubtedly the result of her untutored discipline at writing out her storm & the restorative power of spirit. She has gone through her trial by fire & lived to tell of it. Very well done, both for the book & the mental disease survived!
Rating:
Summary: What a journey of a journaler!
Review: If there is any book that shows how keeping a journal can save your life, it is WRITING OUT THE STORM. Yes, it's a hard one to read, yet Rebecca Mitchell Merriman's enthusiasm for life & her attention to detail shine through. Yes, it is full of the angst & turmoil of mental illness, yet embedded in each & every chapter are the kernels of redemption & surcease, until she can no longer control her illness. That Rebecca Mitchell Merriman survived to tell her tale, with a lot of help from the steady companionship of her husband & their feline offspring, is undoubtedly the result of her untutored discipline at writing out her storm & the restorative power of spirit. She has gone through her trial by fire & lived to tell of it. Very well done, both for the book & the mental disease survived!
Rating:
Summary: Honest, funny, informative
Review: Rebecca Merriman writes from the heart. She tells us that manic-depression is both an exhilirating and frightening roller coaster ride type of mental illness. It affords its suffereres with an oversized dose of happiness, confidence, and risk-taking only to plunge them into the depths of darkness and despair. Merriman writes with a "no holds barred" approach, opening the door to this mystifying disorder from which so many people suffer. Drawing from her journals, Merriman shows through her writing how words helped put her manic depressive world in order, especially after her psychotic breaks and subsequent hospitalizations. For anyone suffering from manic depression or who knows someone touched by this discorder, this book is an easy-to-read and enjoyable story of what can be a devastating, and sometimes deadly, illness. It offers hope by showing, from first hand experience, how the medications and counseling available today to manage it can help people live healthy lives. Carol Smucker, RN, PhD
Rating:
Summary: Helped me to understand and be understanding.
Review: Rebecca's book helped me to better understand the manic-depressive people in my life. The journal style gave (me)the reader a day to day view of life as a manic-depressive person. Her story is insightful, honest,heart wrenching, but also uplifting. Rebecca's story helped me to understand that being manic-depressive is an illness, but that a ill person can still determine a path of health for their life.
Rating:
Summary: Helped me to understand and be understanding.
Review: Rebecca's book helped me to better understand the manic-depressive people in my life. The journal style gave (me)the reader a day to day view of life as a manic-depressive person. Her story is insightful, honest,heart wrenching, but also uplifting. Rebecca's story helped me to understand that being manic-depressive is an illness, but that a ill person can still determine a path of health for their life.
Rating: 
Summary: A Personal Note re: Writing Out the Storm
Review: Rebecca, I can't tell you how much insight I've gained through your beautiful, genuine, poetic words into the state of mind of family members and friends who suffer from mental illness. For many years, sufferers have gravitated to me because they seem to sense that I understand their plight and have compassion for them, having grown up in a family afflicted with a range of chemical imbalances. Often, I've been deeply wounded by the words and choices that those closest to me who are operating from various platforms of mental distress have leveled at me. But, after reading your book which so eloquently and precisely states and chronicles your mood swings and behavioral variances, I now better realize how insignificant my external role has been in evoking negative responses from affected loved ones. What a relief for me, as one standing on the outside of this illness looking in, to discover through your account how the internal chemical triggers work in determining the subsequent behavior. From your revealing journal entries, I could clearly discern that your choices were chemically, not morally determined or driven. Also, what a comfort it was for me to hear you speak lovingly about those in your life, such as your husband and mother, who have been stable and loyal advocates during your recovery. I am greatly impressed with the virtues of strength, honesty, wisdom, compassion, and abiding faith you have skillfully woven throughout the pages of your compelling narrative. Please know that whether or not your book becomes a best seller, you have lit a torch from the baptismal fires of your own crucible that casts an illuminating brilliance on a shadowy subject for all of us whose lives are directly or indirectly affected by chemical imbalance. Thank-you from the bottom of my heart for your inspiring, precious, and heroic gift, Rebecca, and may you, like the sturdy red and yellow spring tulips mentioned in your book, always stay firmly rooted in the solidity, richness, and wellness of your sacred middle ground. God Bless,
Stephanie McIntosh
Rating:
Summary: A Personal Note re: Writing Out the Storm
Review: Rebecca, I can't tell you how much insight I've gained through your beautiful, genuine, poetic words into the state of mind of family members and friends who suffer from mental illness. For many years, sufferers have gravitated to me because they seem to sense that I understand their plight and have compassion for them, having grown up in a family afflicted with a range of chemical imbalances. Often, I've been deeply wounded by the words and choices that those closest to me who are operating from various platforms of mental distress have leveled at me. But, after reading your book which so eloquently and precisely states and chronicles your mood swings and behavioral variances, I now better realize how insignificant my external role has been in evoking negative responses from affected loved ones. What a relief for me, as one standing on the outside of this illness looking in, to discover through your account how the internal chemical triggers work in determining the subsequent behavior. From your revealing journal entries, I could clearly discern that your choices were chemically, not morally determined or driven. Also, what a comfort it was for me to hear you speak lovingly about those in your life, such as your husband and mother, who have been stable and loyal advocates during your recovery. I am greatly impressed with the virtues of strength, honesty, wisdom, compassion, and abiding faith you have skillfully woven throughout the pages of your compelling narrative. Please know that whether or not your book becomes a best seller, you have lit a torch from the baptismal fires of your own crucible that casts an illuminating brilliance on a shadowy subject for all of us whose lives are directly or indirectly affected by chemical imbalance. Thank-you from the bottom of my heart for your inspiring, precious, and heroic gift, Rebecca, and may you, like the sturdy red and yellow spring tulips mentioned in your book, always stay firmly rooted in the solidity, richness, and wellness of your sacred middle ground. God Bless,
Stephanie McIntosh
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