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

Rating:
Summary: A rare portrait of human development
Review: Stephen Hinshaw demonstrated exceptional courage and scholarship in this passionately written portrayal of his father's struggle with bipolar disorder. Blending scientific perspectives with personal insights, Hinshaw provides a tour of his father's obstacles and triumphs. It is a compelling story about the far reaching implications of severe psychopathology yet it is firmly rooted in inspiring messages of hope and resilience. Hinshaw somehow manages to find the appropriate "voice" with personal accounts narrated within a larger context of science, philosophy, and public policy. It is exemplary in its passion, analysis, and vision for the future.

Rating:
Summary: A rare portrait of human development
Review: This is an excellent book that anyone interested in bipolar disorder or mental illness in general should read. Hinshaw is an excellent writer and brings the details of his father's struggle with bipolar disorder richly to life. The effects of the disease on his father's entire existence are profound and complex- many details and nuances of the illness are described. The book is partly an indictment of the entire mental health field for not providing better care for his father. An interesting and complex read. Avery Z. Conner, author of "Fevers of the Mind".

Rating:
Summary: an excellent bipolar biography
Review: This is an excellent book that anyone interested in bipolar disorder or mental illness in general should read. Hinshaw is an excellent writer and brings the details of his father's struggle with bipolar disorder richly to life. The effects of the disease on his father's entire existence are profound and complex- many details and nuances of the illness are described. The book is partly an indictment of the entire mental health field for not providing better care for his father. An interesting and complex read. Avery Z. Conner, author of "Fevers of the Mind".

Rating:
Summary: Get This Book for Everyone You Know
Review: This is one of the best books on any topic I have read lately. Anyone who knows anyone with a psychological problem (that's all of you with a pulse, by the way), should read The Years of Silence are Past. The title refers to the silence that descended on Stephen Hinshaw's family in the face of his father's bipolar illness (manic-depression). The book is so resonant because countless families with a mentally ill family member live with the same deafening silence. Hinshaw manages to tell the story of his father's battle with bipolar disorder in a compelling, compassionate, unflinching way while also communicating clearly and thus educating about this devastating illness. This book puts a human face on a problem that is too often still stigmatized in our society. I hope this book will help put an end to the collective silence that amplifies the stigma and associated pain for people with mental illness and their famlies. I also hope it leads people with mental illness to seek and benefit from treatment.