A Bipolar Memoir
by
Ishaa Vinod Chopra battled bipolar disorder for over a decade. She has also been a victim of domestic abuse in her short-lived marriage. Finding Order in Disorder is a stunning memoir of her experiences battling enormous odds and emerging triumphant. In lucid, simple prose the author addresses what it is like to be diagnosed with bipolar disorder, how it affects interpersonal relationships, and how societal norms influence our understanding of and responses to mental health issues. She also narrates how these traumatic and life- altering experiences have helped her gain insights into life and empowered her to the extent that along with being an early childhood educator, she is now an active campaigner for mental health. With wisdom stemming from first-hand experience, she provides a haunting account of repeated hospitalizations, heavy medication, heartbreak, and discrimination based on diagnosis, while advocating the importance of art therapy, dance, yoga and self-love to cope with mental health issues. Brutally honest and often piercing in its observations, this is a memoir that is both heart-wrenching and inspirational.
Acceptance of Others Unlike Us and Ourselves
‘Serenity comes when you trade expectations for acceptance.’
—Gautama Buddha
If we function from a place of acceptance, most labels in the world would cease to exist. If we accepted women loving women, men loving men, all the derogatory terms used to categorize same-sex relationships would cease to exist. Similarly, if we accepted certain behaviours that stem from genes or behaviours rooted in a person’s upbringing, we wouldn’t need to single out some people and categorize them as different, like we do now.
READ MOREMost labels, especially in mental health, arise because of some notion of abnormality which is defined by society to be wrong or not in sync with ‘perfection’. But who determines what is ‘normal’ and what isn’t? The term ‘normal’ is in itself harmless, but to imply that it is the state that everyone should identify with is assuming something that is not only impossible, but unfair to the minority.
If we believe in a God or a universal power, we can certainly reflect on why certain people are born a particular way, but how can we give ourselves the power to exclude, shame, punish and ignore those different from us? How do we as a society hold that right? The problem lies with us and our inability to accept other people and their personal choices. To rob someone of their freedom, or to make them live in fear forever for the rest of their lives, just so we are comfortable, is more than cruel.
COLLAPSEAkilesh Sridharan wrote:5 out of 5 stars
"An incredible memoir by Ishaa! She takes us through her life journey and it has so many layers. The layers of living with Mental Health Joyrney, abuse in relationship, spending endless time in hospitals and still somehow finding a way towards her healing journey. Ishaa is an incredible writer and the way she takes the reader through her life but also promises hope at the end. This story is an epitome of never giving up and always 'Restarting'."
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Ishaa, thanks for writing this book. I know it is never easy to write a memoir, let alone the one where you should relive those unpleasant moments through your own words. However, you have done it with the utmost sincerity and straightforward approach through your simple and lucid prose and narration. Congrats on your debut book once again. This book chronologically captures the ebb and flow in the life of the author from her early childhood days, starting from her parents’ separation, shifting to Canada, school and college life, early marriage, moving to Germany, domestic abuse and divorce, rehab chapters, therapy sessions, recuperation, and art as a saviour (dance and painting), studying for an early childhood education programme, and writing a memoir for the world to read."
