Book Review: Icarus Redeemed: A Schizoaffective Story

What does it mean to be in the throes of a manic episode? To succumb to paranoia and delusion?
For those of us outside of that experience, it can be difficult to understand the lives of those dealing with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. In Icarus Redeemed, G.H. Francis seeks to relate his encounters with what he calls “madness.” Diagnosed with bipolar disorder and in reality confronting a schizoaffective disorder combining aspects of schizophrenia and bipolar, Francis offers a unique insight not only into his own experiences of those disorders but into the mental health system and its institutional limitations.
Icarus Redeemed is a peculiar sort of text, combining memoir, technical references, and excerpts from the author’s fiction and poetry to create a raw, unapologetic whole. If, as a reader, you are looking for a straightforward tell-all, this is not the book for you. Rather, Francis attempts to engage our empathy in different ways and gives us an illustration of his experiences with his disorder through this piecemeal approach.
He includes his creative writing and emails from his three different manic episodes, I believe, to show the reader how his thinking operated during those times. How successful this device is depends somewhat on the audience’s willingness to engage with those texts. Overall, Icarus Redeemed invites us to contemplate an appropriately disorderly view of schizoaffective and bipolar disorders.
As the back copy notes, however, it is not a...

Source: Psych Central - July 26, 2016 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Julia Patt Tags: Bipolar Book Reviews Disorders General Personal Stories Psychiatry Psychology Schizophrenia Treatment Bipolar Disorder books on mania books on psychosis books on schizophrenia books on the mental health system G.H. Francis GH Source Type: news