Welcome to the Jungle, Revised Edition: Facing Bipolar Without Freaking Out

by Hilary T. Smith

Overview

A Bipolar Guide from a Bipolar Person

Welcome to the Jungle has a greater focus on bipolar people, not the diagnosis: the ways in which each person can find his or her own way through the extreme emotional states and intense experiences that we are calling “bipolar”—whether that means medication or meditation, psychiatrists or vision quests, good sleep or good all-night dancing, or a little bit of everything.

An honest, relatable book that can help you figure out how to live your life with bipolar disorder. Many bipolar books are too clinical, too alarmist, and too clearly written for family members and caretakers of people diagnosed with this mood disorder. Welcome to the Jungle is different. Author Hilary Smith wrote this guide because it is the book she wishes she'd been given when she was first diagnosed with bipolar disorder. It answers questions, points to resources, and most of all, comes from someone who understands what it’s like to be thrown off course by an overwhelming mental health issue—and what to do afterwards.

Know that you are not alone—and that many paths can lead to healing. Just like for everyone else, there are many, many paths that bipolar people can take in life. Learn more about how to live your own life with a mental illness using the help of the insights in Welcome to the Jungle, which covers topics such as:

• Wrapping your head around triggers, causes of mood swings, medications, and therapists
• Recovering from mental breakdowns, manic moments, and major depressive episodes
• Living your life beyond the diagnosis—and helping your family to do the same

Readers of bipolar mental health books like The Bipolar Workbook, Rock Steady, or OMG That's Me! will love the devastatingly on-target, honest insights offered in Welcome to the Jungle.

*This book is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any illness or act as a substitute for advice from a doctor or psychiatrist.*

 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781573246958
Publisher:	TURNER PUB CO
Publication date:	03/01/2017
Edition description:	Revised
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Hilary Smith was born in 1986. She grew up in Canada and received a BA in English Literature at the University of British Columbia. Her adventures with bipolar disorder began when she was in her late teens, when constant insomnia and crazy thoughts started making her life a little more "interesting." Now she lives somewhere on the West Coast of the USA (her exact home at any given time is subject to frequent changes, as she and her paramour tend to ramble around the country a lot in pursuit of their dreams).

Hilary wrote Welcome to the Jungle because it is the book she wishes she'd been given when she was first diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Any comments or letters from readers are welcome. Hilary can be reached at [e-mail].

Table of Contents

Introduction to the 2017 Edition|xi

Introduction to the 2010 Edition xv

1 What Just Happened?: Life Beyond the Diagnosis 1

2 Mania, Depression, Psychosis, Oh My!: A Whirl Wind Tour Through the Episodes of Bipolar Disorder 19

3 You've Got Drugs: Wrapping Your Head Around Meds 43

4 Shrinks: What They're for and How they Car Help 63

5 Changing Channels: Preventing Episodes with Insight 83

6 Ninja Skills for the Mentally Chill: Tools for Staying Sane 101

7 Bugs in the Jungle: Suicide, Psych Wards, and Other Downers 115

8 The Forest for the Trees: Getting Back on Your Feet after Mania or Depression 133

9 Voices Not In Your Head: Dealing with Friends and Family 151

10 Hippie Shit that Actually Works: Herbs, Wilderness Time, and Other Ways to Help Yourself 175

Conclusion: Gifts from the Jungle 191

Resources 195

Editorial Reviews

"Hilary Smith has come through big time with a book about bipolar disorder targeted to teens or 20-somethings experiencing mental illness for the first time." —Washington Post

Reviews

"Hilary Smith has come through big time with a book about bipolar disorder targeted to teens or 20-somethings experiencing mental illness for the first time." —Washington Post

"Among the wealth of works on bipolar, this title (wisely pulled from a Guns N' Roses lyric) nicely stands out as a super reference for younger readers interested in or actually experiencing bipolar disorder and is also a valuable resource for professionals." —Library Journal

"Hilary Smith's Welcome to the Jungle provides readers with wise and excellent counsel about the thing called bipolar disorder. At once radical education and exuberant conversation, this combo memoir and self-help book is a must read for the millions whose ups and downs cause them to collide with psychiatry and the current supremely flawed mental health system." —Eric Maisel, Ph.D., The Future of Mental Health and Rethinking Depression

"This book is flatout fantastic. Funny, smart, and unflinchingly astute, Welcome to the Jungle is exactly the guide you want on your journey from chaos to stability as you learn to manage bipolar disorder. Smith's sure voice is a welcome companion over some hard road, and her wry wisdom lights the way. Indispensable." Marya Hornbacher, author of Madness: A Bipolar Life

"Hilary Smith's wise, hilarious, and candid book is a veritable lifesaver not only for those suffering from bipolar disorder, but for those struggling to keep their sanity while loving them. Maybe because the author suffers from the disorder herself, her book is an actual survival guide, brimming with insight, anecdote, and tough love. Recovery was never so inspiring." Allison Burnett, author of Undiscovered Gyrl

From the Publisher