I was asked why I wrote this memoir. The answer to that question, in a nutshell, is to help people. In this book, I hope to give people in the same circumstances as I was, or their friends and family, hope- hope that there is a happy ending. Beyond that, I hope to impart knowledge of what to expect on the journey back to sanity, and an understanding of mental illness from the mentally ill person's point of view.
My family didn't have any suspicion that there was something wrong until about two weeks before I became involuntarily committed to a mental hospital. Even then, they still had no real concept about what was going on with me or the process involved in involuntary commitment or recovery from mental illness.
There was nothing to give them that knowledge. I hope to change that for other people, by giving some insight into the mind of an insane person and the process of recovery from a serious mental illness. If friends and loved ones know what to look for, having gone vicariously on a journey through insanity themselves, they might be able to head off a hospitalization of their loved one by getting the mentally ill person help before they become incapacitated.
When you read this book, it's like a trip to a ride at Disneyland. You experience each phase of the illness as if you are going through it yourself. When you're finished, you will have vicariously lived through my mental meltdown and returned to my present state of sanity, all from the comfort of your armchair.
Feel free to laugh. There's plenty to laugh about. I hope you enjoy the ride.
