Utterly impossible for me to put down. A heartbreaking story… I really haven’t been able to put this one down and found I had devoured the entire book in just one sitting… so insightful into mental disorders.

Manic Man: How to Live Successfully with a Severe Mental Illness is a retelling of Jason Wegner’s experiences with bipolar disorder. The story begins with a snapshot of Jason’s life prior to being affected by bipolar disorder. Then, we are drawn into his descent in his manic episode, where he was spending money, not sleeping, and writing excessively. His description of his activities during this time really allow the reader a good view of what it was like to be manic. Eventually, Jason’s family is able to access supports for him when he unwittingly agrees to be escorted to the hospital. His time in the hospital is documented in the story and it was truly interesting to see his lack of insight into his condition and actions that led him to be hospitalized. After discharge from the hospital, he begins work with a psychologist, Dr. Bernes. This book will help to remove the stigma of mental illness. It is possible to be diagnosed with a mental illness, but still, lead a highly successful, fruitful life. I recommend this book to any family affected by bipolar disorder. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance review copy in exchange for my honest review.

Manic Man: How to Live Successfully with a Severe Mental Illness is an account of Jason Wegner's experiences living with a severe mental illness: bipolar I disorder. I was enticed by Jason Wegner's writing style throughout this. It was an emotional rollercoaster throughout and told the story of how he ended up being hospitalised, and how that changed his life. His vulnerability I'm sure will help break the stigma around bipolar and other mental illnesses. I could not recommend it enough.

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Manic man is Jason Wegner’s personal account of his experience living with a severe mental illness: Bipolar I Disorder. The story begins with an insight into Jason’s “normal” life and we then see Jason’s descent into an acute manic Bipolar episode, with psychotic experience and then his dip into depression. Whilst this book is at times heartbreaking it is also a story about hope and how one can become “well” again, even when diagnosed with a severe mental health condition. We learn about Jason’s experiences as an inpatient and his treatment with his Psychologist Dr. Kerry Bernes - who developed “The Octagon of Life”which are the eight areas of life that he gets Jason to focus on to aid his recovery. 



What I really loved about this book:

- Jasons vulnerability and honesty

- Breaking down mental health stigma

- Jasons humour

- The emotional rollercoaster

- Instils hope



Things I liked less about this book:

- Nothing.



Thank you Jason for opening your mind and allowing us to share your journey. Congratulations on the release! 

Available now! Go read it!

Manic Man: How to Live Successfully with a Severe Mental Illness by Jason Wegner, with a foreword by Dr. Kerry Barnes, is a memoir of a first episode of bipolar mania and subsequent recovery.

The book’s prologue opens with the author’s parents having called paramedics to take him to hospital. It then shifts back in time to build up to when he started to get hypomanic, which grew into mania.

The book captures the grandiosity and big ideas that come with mania, along with excessive spending and lack of sleep. While manic, the author was writing a lot, including texting and posting on social media, as well as making a lot of audio recordings, and he draws on these to construct a coherent narrative of his manic episode that probably would have been difficult to do otherwise. There are pictures of some of his writing inside the book and on the cover. Together, these different pieces give the reader really good insights into what mania is like.

The author describes how his friends and family were getting concerned about him and wondering if he was on drugs, but he himself didn’t have any insight into the fact that he was unwell.

About three-quarters of the way through the book, the narrative catches up to the prologue where the author was hospitalized. He writes about appealing his committal, and includes quotes from the panel’s written reasons for keeping him detained in hospital. It’s quite interesting to see that side of the story, along with excerpts from doctors’ notes in his chart.

The book then shifts to working on recovery, which was interrupted by a depressive episode. He worked closely with his psychologist Dr. Bernes, who wrote the book’s foreword, and together they developed a holistic program for recovery that they called the Octagon of Life. This included elements like exercise, nutrition, and exposure therapy (including writing this book) to process the traumatic experience of mania. Together, the eight elements of the Octagon of Life allowed the author to rebuild his life and achieve post-traumatic growth, and the book takes a hopeful stance that recovery is possible. The author is now pursuing a career as a teacher.

The author shows a willingness to be vulnerable and open about his experiences, even those experiences that might be considered embarrassing. This gives a very genuine picture of what it’s like to be manic. I think this book would be a good choice for anyone looking to gain a better understanding of bipolar mania, and particularly for anyone who’s been newly diagnosed.



I received a reviewer copy from the publisher through Netgalley.