Reviews & Comments from ReadersThe Bi-Polar ExpressI am crying, laughing and can't stop reading. The book is Amazing. Mum finished reading your book - she said she couldn't put it down! I've just started reading it too. We thought your warning that the book contains "traces of nuts" was pretty funny!! Dear Ela, I just had to get into your book straight away and honestly I could not put it down. I woke in the night and read more... 25/03/07 The book is fantastic. You deserve big success. Congratulations. To whom it may concern Riveting! I am delighted to recommend this warm, heart felt and easily readable book by Ela and Natasha Simon. It is a rare privilege to be let into the heartbreaks and joys experienced by this courageous mother and her daughter as they cope with and triumph over Natasha’s bipolar affective disorder. Text books and learned journal articles about bipolar affective disorder provide students of psychiatry the fundamental building blocks to diagnose and treat the different aspects of bipolar affective disorder. However, there are very few emotionally honest and clear pieces of writing that fill in the gaps that text books always have. “The Bi-Polar Express” is a book that I will be recommending to mental health clinicians and students so that they get a sense of the day-to-day and lifetime experiences of people who suffer from bipolar disorder and the impact on their families. This book is divided into two inter-related but separate view points called “Ela’s ride” and “Natasha’s ride” which is a very clever way to express the different viewpoints of the mother (Ela) and the daughter (Natasha). In clinical psychiatry, the different issues and viewpoints experienced within a family are sometimes neglected or poorly understood. This book underlines the imperative that all clinicians have to attempt to see the problems from different perspectives. I am very thankful to Ela and Natasha Simon for writing this funny, sad story and I hope other readers will enrich their understanding of the experience of bipolar illness through this fantastic book. The “life and death rollercoaster of mania and depression” ride has a happy ending. It would appear that both Ela and Natasha and other members of the Simon family have triumphed, not only over the illness but are living life with gusto and exhilaration – far more than if they had opted to go on a sedate merry-go-round ride instead of the rollercoaster! PROFESSOR JAYASHRI KULKARNI Bipolar disorder is truly a roller coaster condition, sometimes coming on in adolescence or adulthood but occasionally appearing in childhood with a range of protean symptoms that can lead to quite incorrect diagnoses. People with that condition can effectively lose large segments of their life, while pluralistic treatment strategies can generally bring the condition under control. The Simons take us into the world of bipolar disorder - with Ela describing the progression of the roller coaster condition in her daughter, while Natasha provides her own bright, whimsical and percipient insights about her recent experiences. Both authors write vividly and without reserve, with raw experience writ large. The reader can only wonder how each kept up the pace, one with a condition that was often out of control, and the other trying to preempt disaster and collateral damage as she sought help for her daughter. An inspiring book! Gordon Parker, Executive Director
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