Fear Is My Copilot

In Fear is My Copilot Don Wooldridge writes about his experiences with Bipolar disorder and how he lived a productive life based on the lessons that he learned along the way as a result of those experiences. This book draws upon Don’s personal experiences—to help each reader understand the disorder, how to manage it over the long-term, and how to support those who suffer from this debilitating condition.

The word “Bipolar” refers to the two extremes of mood: depression and mania. Early on, the term “manic depression” was also used. Bipolar disorder is a life-long condition that affects every aspect of your life. It’s difficult to imagine the havoc a condition known as Bipolar disorder can wreak on an individual’s life, as well as those around them.

While each person’s experience is unique and there is a continuum between extreme moods and the normal mood swings that most everyone experiences, if you suffer from Bipolar disorder, you know the significant impact on your life, and can even put your life at risk. Despite its life-long existence, you can go on to live a productive life once you receive proper treatment, gain empowering knowledge, employ viable self-management strategies, and maintain good levels of social support. These interventions can make you feel like you’re making progress each day.

This book is indeed timely for two reasons. First, mental health
practitioners have recently begun to appreciate that the symptoms
and functional deficits of Bipolar disorder involve a great deal more than mood, so are enlarging their focus. Second, there are still many unanswered questions about this condition, so when individuals share their experiences, it provides valuable information for researchers and clinicians alike to make more useful contributions to the mental health field.

I feel a special affinity for the topic of mental illness, because not only am I a psychologist, I also have first-hand experience with clinical depression. And according to the World Health Organization, it is a major health problem around the world that affects people of all socioeconomic and educational levels. Recovery is a life-long journey that is unique to each individual. A certain gratitude for the little things is what you will read in Don’s book; similarly, I am grateful to have lived a vibrant and productive life for many years now since my diagnosis in the early-1980s.

Despite considerable attention that has recently been drawn to mental illness and rapid progress in the research and treatment of Bipolar disorder, mental illness in general still carries a social stigma. One of my life missions is to chip away at this stigma. My hope is that after reading this book you will have acquired more knowledge about this debilitating disorder and will have a greater understanding of and compassion for those who suffer from this common, but somewhat neglected condition.
~ Mary Canty Merrill, PhD
President & COO Industrial/Organizational Psychologist
http://merrillca.com/