Description

True Stories From People Who Have Mood Disorders

By Katy Sara Culling

ISBN: 9781849911139

Published: 2009

Pages: 183

Key Themes: bipolar disorder, manic depression, real life stories, suicide

Description

This book includes 15 true stories from people with bipolar disorder or unipolar depression and their great courage and suffering, their struggles and triumphs. Edited or co-written by Katy Sara Culling, the stories are all of high quality and interest. Each story is totally unique, giving the reader a broad spectrum of mood disorder experiences to draw from, making this book useful for the sufferer, carers, and medical professional, as well as the general public who wish to educate themselves about these topics.

As with mood disorders there are a wide range of treatments used, from therapy to medication and electroconvulsive therapy . All are covered in this book. As it is common for co-disorders to exist, especially alcoholism, anxiety and eating disorders, some of the stories include tales of people struggling with these issues as well as their mood disorder. That is, after all, true to life.

Because peoples experiences with mood disorders vary there is a chapter at the end explaining mood disorders and the terminology. This can be read before the stories in the book if a person feels they need to know the background information first. This means a person who knows nothing about mood disorders can pick up this book, read it, and finish with a good understanding of the subject.

About the Author

Katy Sara Culling was born in Liverpool, North England, in January 1975, sharing her birth date rather aptly with Virginia Woolf. Daughter of Sue and Paul Culling, her family moved back to its roots in Derbyshire, where she grew up along with her younger sister Beth, in the village of Castle Donington, on the Derbyshire Leicestershire border. However, even as young as 5 she exhibited symptoms of bipolar disorder. She attended a private school for girls, Loughborough High School, where she was a high achieving student. Unfortunately, due to bullying and also to numb her mania and depression, she developed anorexia nervosa and began to self-harm.

Katy Sara then went to The University of Nottingham, where she studied Biochemistry and Nutrition. She did her (1st class) thesis on alcohol and metabolism, interested in the psychology of Alcoholism. All this was done despite considerable illness including over 60 suicide attempts and purgin type anorexia and yet more bullying.