The Years of Silence Are Past: My Father's Life with Bipolar Disorder

by Stephen P. Hinshaw and Kay Redfield Jamison

Book Overview

This work presents the life history of a philosopher who experienced severe, recurrent, and misdiagnosed mental disorder. The compelling narrative portrays the father's seventy-five years: his childhood and adolescence, his high levels of achievement, intermixed with recurrent episodes and brutal hospitalizations, his marriage and family life, his tenderness as a father, and his gradual decline following years of maltreated bipolar disorder. Themes...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0521817803
• ISBN13: 9780521817806
• Release Date: October 2002
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 252 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

A compelling biography in the context of society's larger story

As the other reviews here accurately explain, this slim volume encompasses much more than an insightful look at how his father's long-misdiagnosed mental illness affected the author and his family. That would be quite enough. Yet, while some scholarly writers have one idea and puff it out in volume after volume, Dr. Hinshaw deftly delivers much more than the title suggests, weaving autobiography and biography, this country's checkered history in diagnosing and treating bi-polar disorder, the genetic and environmental factors of brain disorders, personal insights and scientific data, and much more. That Dr. Hinshaw pulls this off so cogently and compellingly for the layperson strikes me as remarkable, given that he is a highly respected academic, clinical scientist, and professor who chairs the prestigious department of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. As a lay volunteer in the AD/HD community, I first learned of Dr. Hinshaw through his contributions to a landmark study on ADHD in children. In my experience, it is rare to find a psychologist who can help the average person bridge the knowledge gap between behavior and neuroscience, and I am grateful for this window to understanding. This is the first in Dr. Hinshaw's outstanding trilogy examining stigma around mental illness--and how our society might go about easing it. The other two books are The Mark of Shame: Stigma of Mental Illness and an Agenda for Change and Breaking the Silence: Mental Health Professionals Disclose Their Personal and Family Experiences of Mental Illness Gina Pera

A rare portrait of human development

Stephen Hinshaw demonstrated exceptional courage and scholarship in this passionately written portrayal of his father's struggle with bipolar disorder. Blending scientific perspectives with personal insights, Hinshaw provides a tour of his father's obstacles and triumphs. It is a compelling story about the far reaching implications of severe psychopathology yet it is firmly rooted in inspiring messages of hope and resilience. Hinshaw somehow manages to find the appropriate "voice" with personal accounts narrated within a larger context of science, philosophy, and public policy. It is exemplary in its passion, analysis, and vision for the future.

an excellent bipolar biography

This is an excellent book that anyone interested in bipolar disorder or mental illness in general should read. Hinshaw is an excellent writer and brings the details of his father's struggle with bipolar disorder richly to life. The effects of the disease on his father's entire existence are profound and complex- many details and nuances of the illness are described. The book is partly an indictment of the entire mental health field for not providing better care for his father. An interesting and complex read. Avery Z. Conner, author of "Fevers of the Mind".

Get This Book for Everyone You Know

This is one of the best books on any topic I have read lately. Anyone who knows anyone with a psychological problem (that's all of you with a pulse, by the way), should read The Years of Silence are Past. The title refers to the silence that descended on Stephen Hinshaw's family in the face of his father's bipolar illness (manic-depression). The book is so resonant because countless families with a mentally ill family member live with the same deafening silence. Hinshaw manages to tell the story of his father's battle with bipolar disorder in a compelling, compassionate, unflinching way while also communicating clearly and thus educating about this devastating illness. This book puts a human face on a problem that is too often still stigmatized in our society. I hope this book will help put an end to the collective silence that amplifies the stigma and associated pain for people with mental illness and their famlies. I also hope it leads people with mental illness to seek and benefit from treatment.