A harrowing tale of a doctor's own battle with his bipolar disorder
On paper, psychologist Dr. Shalom Camenietzski seemed to have it all—a beautiful family, a thriving practice, and supportive friends and colleagues. But in reality, he lived a life of turmoil—obsessive daydreams of taking his life, flamboyant periods of mania, disturbing acts of violence against his wife and son, and various episodes of psychosis, one of which would see him speeding his car the wrong way up Toronto’s Gardiner Expressway. Able to understand the clinical profile of his bipolar disorder, he was nonetheless powerless to stop it.
A fascinating account of a “mentally disordered healer,” Out of My Mind reveals the strengths and fallibilities of traditional psychotherapies and shows how Dr. Camenietzki finally obtained a symptom-free life.