Big Crowd at the Crazy House

One year after her graduation from Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Indiana; where she received her B.S. in Printing Management, Heather D. Brown found herself being led into the psychiatric ward clapping her hands and shouting, “Show me the Money!!!” She spent the night in the padded room and was quickly diagnosed with bipolar disorder, or manic-depression. That night; August 16, 1997, would mark the beginning of her lifelong battle with extreme mood swings that ranged from psychotic manic episodes to soul-wrenching depression She was hospitalized almost a dozen times in the following 11 years because of severe manic episodes. In 2001 she survived two suicide attempts, the second of which put her on a respirator for 2 days, and coincidentally she regained consciousness on September 11, 2001. She was so thankful to be alive after 9/11, that she felt it was her duty to share her story in hopes of possibly helping prevent some of the millions of people who battle this illness from making the same mistake she did. People with manic-depression are some of the world’s most creative and gifted people. She hopes to offer them encouragement to never again think of giving up, and instead they should try to find a lucrative opportunity for their creativity. If you, or someone you love, or a friend or co-worker are suffering with bipolar disorder, this book offers you a backstage pass inside the mind of a manic-depressive. The reader should be prepared to laugh out loud one moment, and possibly be horrified and saddened by the manic, brutally honest and painful poetry in the next. In the end, if you are not overcome with emotion in the unbelievable power of the Human Spirit to pick itself up, dust itself off, clap its hands, and find its way back from nowhere, then you need to check your pulse or re-read this book!