The Mania Event

By Aaron Daniel

Bipolar poetry that describes the manic syndrome in vivid detail through eloquent symptom analysis. Ride the mood roller coaster and experience the highs and lows that are experienced by the author who struggled with the harsh reality of being locked away in a state psychiatric hospital.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Aaron Daniel
• Release date: May 27, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301531561

Aaron Daniel

I am a dreamer who sees things different than ordinary people. I enjoy writing down how I view the world so others can read it and interpret it in their own way.

Book preview

FOREWORD

I’m a man cursed by a dreadful condition. An unfortunate series of events seriously affected my life. Difficult and challenging are a couple of adjectives to describe my situation. The main event or mania event of my life with Bipolar Disorder Type 1 has had an impact on every part of my life. I have gone places in my mind where no ordinary mind has gone. Being unique in every individual case, my bipolar manic episodes led me to believe many outrageous things. It is hard for a sane person not afflicted with mental illness to understand delusional thinking. It’s not normal and it is viewed as strange and taboo. Stigma is what I have to live with. People as a whole will always stigmatize the mentally ill. I hope we can reduce it across the population by increasing awareness through education and understanding. In this book I reveal my creativity through poetry in hopes that people who read this can gain a little bit more insight of bipolar disorder. I’m cursed with this awful disease, but more importantly I’m gifted with a great amount of creativity. Some good comes with the bad.

I am living on conditional release from a state psychiatric hospital under criminal court jurisdiction. I spent three years and two months incarcerated for a crime of robbery. I was found not guilty by reason of insanity. This is all the result of choosing to go off medication. It may seem that I have it bad compared to the ordinary person, but I am extremely grateful that I have medication that works for me and that I am in full remission. I recovered completely and show no signs or symptoms of mental illness. This is only possible because I take prescribed medication daily.

The night of the mania event, I was speeding down the highway at 125