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Psychology Mental Health

Interrupted with Bipolar

by (author) Shae Therrien

edited by Deana Driver

Publisher
DriverWorks Ink
Initial publish date
Aug 2013
Category
Mental Health, Medical
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781927570067
    Publish Date
    Aug 2013
    List Price
    $10.64
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781927570050
    Publish Date
    Aug 2013
    List Price
    $19.95

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Description

After eight hospitalizations for bipolar depression since his first admission in 1998, and a total of more than 150 electroconvulsive therapy treatments, Shae Therrien knows a thing or two about maintaining good mental health. It’s not exactly a walk in the park – or in Shae’s case, a naked walk in his neighbourhood. Through diary entries and reflections from two of the most trying periods of his life, Shae shares anecdotes and details of his illness – including tips that he hopes will help others understand and care for those who have mental ‘dis-ease’.

About the authors

Contributor Notes

Shae Therrien has been, in his words, a bipolar entrepreneur since his diagnosis in 1998. He currently has his home in Regina, Saskatchewan, where he has lived and worked since 2002. In between hospitalizations and a couple of back surgeries, a few of his passions are fitness, boxing at the Regina Boxing Club, and coaching and competing in CrossFit. Ice cream and popcorn are also a few extra hobbies he enjoys, alongside pretending he knows how to be an artist.

Excerpt: Interrupted with Bipolar (by (author) Shae Therrien; edited by Deana Driver)

My name is Shae Daniel Therrien. I was born on July 7, 1980, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. I was two pounds and eight ounces – at least that is what I was told, so I have been running with that ever since.
I grew up in Armstrong, British Columbia – it’s in Canada also. I was raised with lots of love from both sides of my family. My parents went their separate ways when I was about five years old. As I bounced around between my mother’s house and my father’s, my older sister Corrie did a good job of steering me in a direction that kept me out of mischief. My younger sister Alice was the cutest baby ever, and she bounced around my father’s house also.
In my young adolescence, I suppose I did some fairly average things. I played hockey from the age of five and I got into some high-school sports like volleyball, basketball and track and field. I also got into drinking alcohol and experimenting with drugs in Grade 8. That is something I stuck with until I was about 23 years old.
Ten years of drinking booze and playing around with drugs has at times left me wondering if my mental illness is a by-product of the lifestyle choices I made in my youth and early adulthood. I don’t know. What I do know is that my diagnosis – which is Bipolar Type II with major depressive disorder – still tags alongside me even though I climbed atop the sobriety mountain almost 10 years ago….

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