She tried to hide her disorder throughout most of her life, 'pretending' to be normal. What is remarkable about her is the courage and strength she had to write down her experiences and make her condition known to all. Hornbacher is a gifted writer, as evidenced by this book. Instead, she lived through years of hell as she tried to make sense of a world in which she had no control over her emotions, leading her to extremes highs and lows for years on end. It is quite plausible that she could have been spared a lot of mental anguish over the years if only the proper diagnosis had been initially made and the correct treatments were available for her. Initially diagnosed with depression, Hornbacher believes today that because of the incorrect diagnosis as a young adult, she was given the wrong medications, which only exacerbated her bipolar condition. Marya Hornbacher had all these symptoms and more but was not diagnosed with bipolar disorder until later in life. Other symptoms include various forms of self-mutilation, excesses with alcohol, drugs, and sex.

Symptoms include weight issues (anorexia, binge and purging), runaway money issues and excessive spending sprees, memory loss, manic highs and depressive lows, and mixed episodes which can lead to suicide. It is a candid, blunt view of life for a person afflicted with bipolar I, the more severe of the two forms of bipolar disorder. Madness is the memoir of a woman suffering from bipolar disorder and the journey she took to get to where she is today. Book review: Marya Hornbacher's *Madness: A Bipolar Life*Ĭlick here to read reviewer Heather Darcy's take on Madness: A Bipolar Life.

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