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'Scattershot' A Bipolar Family Portrait

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In his memoir, Scattershot, David Lovelace talks candidly about the effects bipolar disorder — or manic depression — has had on his family.

"I've seen both my parents drown in the sickness," Lovelace writes, "I've seen my brother sink down. I've denied my own madness and I've loved it almost to death."

Terri Cheney joins the discussion and shares details from Manic, a chronicle of her own struggle with bipolar disorder.

"It's a real disease," Cheney told Michel Martin in a Feb. 2008 interview on Tell Me More, "It's as physical as the flu or diabetes. It's not just about being crazy, it's about being forced to be crazy."

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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