2/04/07
Dear Lizzie Simon, It's so unusual the things you read that unexpectedly have a significant impact on your life. After reading what bi-polar was for you and the people you met on your travels, I don't think I could have been much further from the truth in what I thought bi-polar was and what it truely is. The public misconception of how painful and significant this is is shocking. Until I met the most wonderful friend of mine this fall who is bi-polar, I was under the belief that being bi-polar meant you had something like occasional mood swings, just a little more severe than the rest of us. Indeed, had she not entered my life I probably would have thought same forever! I honestly never could have fathomed it was like this. In retrospect, when she told me that she was bi-polar weeks after we met, I can't help but think that I was not more than a little insensitive when I responded with a "that's ok" and "no big deal" to her confession. I really didn't know what it was. Enter your book. A purchase from a bookstore out of pure curiousity, it went from a skim read of a couple pages to an obsessive endulgence for the next two weeks of my life. It was almost as if I was getting a glimpse of what life is like for her deep inside, something that I never saw. I asked myself when she was diagnosed, when she had her first manic breakdown (and for how long), what she is taking to stay in control, if she felt all that you've felt throughout your life, and how horrible I might have been in my insensitivity. Perhaps it is not as significant coming from me than a reader who has really experienced this life, but you are truely an amazing person to have done what you did. Not for just yourself and those you interviewed, but also those who have yet to know that they are not alone. And even though I can never fully understand what it is like to be bi-polar, in some small concession through reading your book, maybe I can see what so many of us on the outside often miss. I wish you luck in all of your future endeavors and hope all is well. Yours Truely, JHV

12/28/06
--------------------------------- lizzie simon, how do you start a letter to someone you've never met, but know so many personal things about? ms. simon? lizzie? i decided to go with the above greeting, but now what? well, my name's ----, i'm 24, and i also have bipolar disorder. my diagnosis itself was a somewhat long and confusing path because at the time i was also suffering from a hyperactive thyroid. first it was generalized anxiety disorder, which my primary care physician tried to treat herself, and upon my first hospitalization and second psychiatrist i was finally categorized, certified and stamped "bipoalr," handed an award with my name on it, and gave a speech. (humor. i know it's hard to recognize in text.) i bought your book a couple of months ago. the first time i looked at it i was looking for something that would let me know what productive bipolar people did and thought about and so on, but i decided not to buy it because i was afraid. but a couple of weeks later i went back to the bookstore and went directly to it, hoping it was still there because it was the only copy they had. i'm still in the middle of reading, honestly. i'm on page 130ish. right at the beginning of your conversation with madeleine. first of all, i want to thank you for your project. uninformed misconceptions about bipolar disorder are everywhere, and they're extremely annoying. people tend to either treat you with pity or caution and i hate that. just for once i want to tell someone i'm bipolar and hear them say "you are! how exciting!" i'm so thankful that you decided to set out to debunk the myth that if you're bipolar, then you must also be not only crazy and useless, but also scary and not-to-be-trusted. also, i want to say something has been bothering me about what i've been reading, something missing. and i know that i'm saying this with a few obstacles. 1. i haven't finished reading your book yet. 2. even if i finish it, i know that you wrote it years ago so maybe what i'm about to tell you is something that you haven't missed, even if it seems to be missing from your book. i just want to say that i think therapy is equally as important as medication. i think that yes, the disorder is biological, chemical, but i think that as a person that deals with that before diagnosis and medicinal treatment (which i think almost all of us are, because how can you be diagnosed without showing the symptoms first?), some psychological problems arise as well that won't be treated with medication. medication can't erase habitual thinking patterns. yeah, it can make episodes less frequent and less intense, but it's not going to solve all of our problems. also (and i want to start a new paragraph for this to stress its independence from the last statement), (perhaps it goes without saying, but let's not make assumptions, right?) bipolar people aren't just different from "normal" people. they're different from each other. what works for one person might not be the solution for every other bipolar person, even those in their same demographic category (age, race, religion, gender, etc). and it kind of pains me to make this personal, but please understand it's not an attack... what works for you might not work for everybody. i mean, i think that surely you must know that, and that's part of why i didn't want to say it. why did i want to say it? well, fundamentally, honestly, because it hasn't worked for me. i consider myself a success now, for the first time in years. i work, i'm good at what i do (although of course not perfect). i've made a lot of progress in the past six months. but for the past six months, i haven't been on medication. any. for the first time in years. it's taking a lot of energy and determination, and support, and it's hard. but i'm still doing it. and not just barely, you know what i mean? i admire you a lot, and i am so glad that you did publish your book and that i can read it because it does inspire me. i just felt a little frustrated, and i tried expressing this to my mom, and she did all the right things and i still didn't feel better. i couldn't help keep this e-mail from being long, but i don't want to bother you. i just felt like this was the best thing to do. i'm excited to see what else you will do.

sincerly,
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