Detour from Normal by Ken DicksonMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
This was a very easy and fast read, probably because it is the author's first book and he reports directly, with some inclusions from his wife's journal. This is a memoir of the mania he fell into after some emergency surgery and the institutional life he led while it was sorted out. This is very interested for the perspective on life inside a psychiatric facility, the straightforward account of his own delusions, and the untangling of what happened to him including the not too uncommon side effects of drugs used in his medical treatment, including steroids. This can be a valuable read for those that treat the manic, including bipolar, either professionally or not as well as someone trying to make sense of their own past incidents. An important sub-plot is the damaging effects of lithium the author experienced which resonated with me on the subject of mental health pills causing their own damage as covered in other books I have read: Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America and even Blood Money: Modern Medicine's Abuse of Power.
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