When the depression is so serious that the sufferer withdraws into sleep for as much as 18 hours a day, or frequently puts a gun in his mouth - is there still hope? This inspirational book says, “YES!”
Win the Battle chronicles Bob Olson's intense struggle that went on for five years after he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Medications were tried one after another without success. He tried shock treatments. Nothing was working. Yet he never entirely gave up. Following the 3-step formula of Belief - Action - Persistence, Olson finally found the medical key to controlling his illness.
I thought the first chapter seemed to be speaking to me as if I was a child, and this was annoying. However, at the beginning of Part II, Olson explains that in his experience, "... people who are depressed do not have the energy or motivation to read a long book, and people who are manic do not have the patience. ... I wanted this book to be simple and easy to read so that everyone, regardless of their mental state, could benefit from reading it." So perhaps the problem was that I was neither manic nor depressed while reading! In any case, if you react to Chapter 1 as I did, keep going - the gold comes soon.
After giving a summary of his story in Chapter 2, Olson gets down to the heart of the issue in the next three chapters. Here are examined in detail the three steps: belief, action and persistence. Separately the chapters each contain solid principles and advice; together they become a powerhouse. And the concluding chapter of Part I sums it up well: "I believed that there was hope for my escape from these horrors of my mentally ill mind, and rather than just wish for my life to change, I struggled to make it happen." Olson makes no claims that it is going to be easy. What he does say, again and again, is that it can be done.
Part II contains five articles Olson published after his bipolar illness was brought under control. These, too, make rewarding reading, and I recommend them especially to the families of people suffering from depression or bipolar disorder.
A last word - the decorative fern leaves shadowing the pages of this book are unusual. I loved them. If you hate them - please do not let them stop you from reading!
