User talk:14njaa

Summary
Manic is a memoir written by Terri Cheney. She gives an account of her struggle with manic- depression and its effect on her life from her adolescence, through college, and even during her career as a Beverly Hills entertainment lawyer. The book illustrates the instability of her disorder, and takes readers through the highs and lows of being bipolar. In accordance with her illness, Cheney writes about her life episodically; she does not write about events in chronological order. Because she remembers events based on the emotional state she was in at the time, the book mirrors her disease in a way that provides the readers with a deeper understanding of it. In her memoir, Cheney reveals years of trying to maintain control and gain a sense of stability and normalcy in her life, whether it's with therapy, a variety of prescription drugs, or electroconvulsive therapy.

Episodes
Because of her bipolar disorder, Cheney is faced with the challenge of keeping her footing in the midst of her changing moods. Her mania makes her more bold, flirtatious, and euphoric- even irrational at times. She describes her mania as electrifying, making her nerves burn and her hairs stand on end. It can cause her to pursue a sexual relationship with a man (in one instance, the man was her best friend's boyfriend), buy ten kites and fly them out of her car's sunroof, or take on massive loads of work at a time. It also leads her to be incredibly charming and charismatic, attracting many people's attention.

Cheney's first major depressive episode occurred when she was sixteen. According to her, sometimes this made her ravenous and she eat continually for the sake of being able to chew on something. This habit struck her hard in college, until she developed an unhealthy cycle of bingeing, followed by a period of time where she avoided eating. She eventually became severely malnourished and was admitted to a hospital. Her depression only got worse from there, though. She would sink into such deep depressions that she wouldn't answer phone calls from family or friends; during depressive episodes, she would even go into work when no one was there and return calls while hiding under her desk. There were times when she couldn't get out of bed at all, neglected showering, and sometimes she was overwhelmed with thoughts of suicide. In fact, she attempted suicide multiple times.

Rough Timeline
- First major depressive episode (at age 16)

- visits Schott Center for her compulsive eating

-Second major depressive episode (during freshman year of college)

- hospitalized for malnutrition

- David, a mentor, colleague, and close friend, dies of AIDS (he had come out as gay to his colleagues a few years before)

- Suicide attempt (as a result of David's death)--> early 1991

- becomes manic; goes on an African safari with a friend that has a deep effect on her

- sinks into depression during the "Big Case" of her career (she worked on MIchael Jackson's case)

- goes through electroconvulsive therapy, which triggers a manic episode

- another suicide attempt

- a doctor informs her that her father will not survive his lung cancer; she ends up overdosing

- she is submitted into an in-patient unit after her OD

- Father dies

- Goes to Santa Fe with the intention of killing herself on Christmas Eve

- Gets locked out of her place in Santa Fe; gets raped by the locksmith

- suicide attempt