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ElectroBoy: A Memoir of Mania by Andy Behrman
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Andy Behrman, author of ElectroBoy: A Memoir of Mania, says his forerunners were Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison (An Unquiet Mind), who he actually heard speak at the beginning of his illness, William Styron (Darkness Visible) and Elizabeth Wurtzel (Prozac Nation), adding, “It's important to remember that at the height of my illness, the genre was not flooded with memoirs about depression and bipolar disorder.” The book gets its title from a nickname given him by a nurse in the hospital where he underwent shock treatment.
Behrman says he was motivated to write ElectroBoy because he wasn't comfortable his "brand" of bipolar disorder had been written about, and by a concern that a truly honest account of mental illness didn't exist. “I wasn't prepared for the reaction of so many people who were shocked by depiction of mental illness. But all along I've said that bipolar disorder isn't a pretty illness.”
Subjected to an extensive tour of psychiatric pharmacopeia in the attempt to cure his malady, Behrman’s most recent experience with brain-drugs was with one called Abilify manufactured by Bristol-Myers Squibb. “By far, it was my worst experience with a medication because of the side effects that I suffered (mostly akathasia* and cognitive impairment). I receive letters from hundreds of patients and even doctors who have the same complaints about Abilify (and also other meds).”
“I've tried more than thirty eight different medications since I started treatment more than twenty years ago,” says Behrman. While admitting “many patients with bipolar disorder have success with a variety of medications,” Behrman also notes that “in the past ten years there has been a flood of new drug brought to the market, and I don't feel that when the side effects of a drug like Abilify, for example, are coma and death, the FDA should allow it to be sold.”
ElectroBoy culminates with Behrman’s reluctantly consenting, after being imprisoned at age 30 for art forgery, to undergo nineteen rounds of electro-convulsive treatments. ECT resulted in the initial relief of his clogged feeling mentally, but began to have an overall depressive effect which was added to extremely by the “as many as it takes” attitude of his doctor, who referred to the treatments as “maintenance.”
In addition to conducting interviews on the subject of his own exploitation by “big pharma”, on his website, Behrman offers his services as a consultant for people with mental illness and their loved ones. He has recently finished writing a book called Adventures in the Drug Trade, which is at the center of the current debate between himself and Bristol Myers Squibb.
“Adventures is a chronicle of my experience as a patient spokesman for Abilify and BMS, and has brought up quite a few issues about big pharma using patients to promote their drugs. I have several other book projects in the works as well as another speaking tour in the Fall planned about bipolar disorder and recovery.”
*an inner restless feeling, like something is constantly crawling under your skin, that prevents the sufferer from being still.
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