Manic: A Memoir

Terri Cheney

Apr 2018 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Coleen Marlo

About this audiobook

On the outside, Terri Cheney was a highly successful, attractive Beverly Hills entertainment lawyer. But behind her seemingly flawless facade lay a dangerous secret-for the better part of her life Cheney had been battling debilitating bipolar disorder and concealing a pharmacy's worth of prescriptions meant to stabilize her moods and make her "normal." In bursts of prose that mirror the devastating highs and extreme lows of her illness, Cheney describes her roller-coaster life with shocking honesty-from glamorous parties to a night in jail; from flying fourteen kites off the edge of a cliff in a thunderstorm to crying beneath her office desk; from electroshock therapy to a suicide attempt fueled by tequila and prescription painkillers. With Manic, Cheney gives voice to the unarticulated madness she endured. The clinical terms used to describe her illness were so inadequate that she chose to focus instead on her own experience, in her words, "on what bipolar disorder felt like inside my own body." Here the events unfold episodically, from mood to mood, the way she lived and remembers life. In this way the listener is able to viscerally experience the incredible speeding highs of mania and the crushing blows of depression, just as Cheney did.

Ratings and reviews

I havent purchased the audio book but I purchased a paper copy today. I struggle to put it down. This recollection of her struggle with bipolar is just what I NEEDED to better understand her diagnosis. I would recommend this book to anybody. I have related to some of those highs and lows in my own way and I've had some memories of my own that were sparked while reading because I can say "wow. I have been in those shoes" her riptide story is something I've experienced. This book is FASCINATING.

About the author

Terri Cheney, once a successful entertainment attorney, now devotes her advocacy skills to the cause of mental illness. On the boards of directors of several mental health organizations, she also facilitates a weekly community support group at UCLA's Semel Institute.

AudioFile Earphones Award winner Coleen Marlo has earned numerous Publishers Weekly Listen-Up Awards and won an Audie Award for her narration of Snakewoman of Little Egypt by Robert Hellenga.