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

Stephen P. Hinshaw

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521817803 ISBN 13: 9780521817806

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2002

Synopsis

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.

About this title

Book Description:

Written by a son who brings the perspective of his profession as an academic psychologist, this work presents the life of a philosopher who experienced recurrent and misdiagnosed mental disorder. This work will be of interest to the public at large and to those in the mental health fields.

From the Publisher:

"Stephen Hinshaw...has written a powerful account of what it is to be the son of a man who lost not only his way, but his mind as well....Hinshaw portrays his father’s struggles with clear-eyed compassion and describes vividly the complexity of their relationship....Professor Hinshaw has written a compelling book about fathers and sons, madness, and the intolerance of society and the academic and medical communities....He has also written an excellent book, one that will go far beyond the academic world, and for that I am particularly delighted." – from the Foreword by Professor Kay Redfield Jamison, author of An Unquiet Mind

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0521817803
• ISBN 13: 9780521817806
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 252