Bipolar disorder, or manic depression (as it was more commonly known a couple of decades ago), is a subject coming to the forefront as more people are diagnosed and treated in a variety of ways. Real Simple features an article in the August 2013 issue, “A Change of Mind”, about how the disorder affects a person’s own life, family, and relationships, http://preview.tinyurl.com/jvhqveu, and O Magazine similarly features an article in the August 2013 issue, “A Saner Approach?” http://oprah.com, about new treatment options, and an interesting grassroots movement called Mad Pride.
Bipolar disorder and manic depression also feature in contemporary fiction, especially psychological fiction. In my new novel, Boundaries: A Love Story, to be released in Fall 2013, one of the characters suffers from manic depression. Her illness and how it was treated by both the medical profession and by her dysfunctional family in the 1980’s, when the novel takes place, is central to the storyline. Elisa is one of the most sympathetic characters in the book, affected by the events and the madness surrounding her. See novel excerpt at http://czmason.com