Scatterbrain: Living with Bipolar Disorder, #1

By James Stordahl

Sorting through 'Racing Thoughts', starting at age 10, this Iowa grandfather relives his experiences of raising a daughter with bipolar disorder, and then discovering that he has been bipolar for more than 50 years.

• Language: English
• Publisher: James Stordahl
• Release date: Aug 20, 2015
• ISBN: 9781492336525

Book preview

To Charlotte

For sharing her life.

To Jenna, Emily, Clare & Betsy

For teaching me to be a man.

To Jill

For letting me back into her life.

To Mary

For keeping the family ‘spirit’ alive.

Firstborn – Jill – 1966 – I asked for a fun shot and this is what I got and I like it. I did not know how to handle this teenage, ‘love-child’ pregnancy - so I ran away – I paid monthly support and for her adoption.

She graciously let me into her life in 2005.

CONTENTS

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

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The world is dying a much faster

death than I had imagined. The entitled, privileged class (Top 1%) is killing the middle class.

Apathy in government (led by the Tea Party) has crippled our once great nation. Global warming is an obvious culprit. Ignoring these problems shows how splintered and stupid this country has become!

No matter what paper you pick up, or internet article you access, the world seems to be going to hell!

Records show that the current (2013-14) U.S. Congress is the least productive of any in the history of our country. The Tea Party has vowed to block all things ‘Obama’ and has made it impossible to govern our country.

The very rich are being warned about the pending ‘class warfare’ they have started.

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I fear for my grandchildren.

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1

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Let’s get going

A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.

Richard Bach

When I went down hard with clinical depression, in 2006, I felt as if I were all alone. I had finally tumbled off the precarious perch that I had been teetering on for years. Melancholy runs in the Norwegian blood. Sadness and despair runs throughout a family managed by a father who prefers alcohol to serious talk. Went I went off, my wife was in the house and my kids were nearby, but the deep, dark pit known as manic-depression (Bipolar Disorder) is a very singular feeling. The dark, hollow chasm all around you is a wholly owned thing. It was not up for discussion. Group therapy was not needed. It was NOT Alcoholics Anonymous. You are on the brink of ending your life and you don’t care! You cannot really pinpoint what has made you so hopeless and helpless. When you totally fall off the edge and sink into the deepest end of the pool, you are not prepared to yell for help or to look for anyone to come to your aid. It is such a dreadful and helpless