"A Brilliant Madness: Living with Manic-Depressive Illness," is an enlightening, personal story of Patty Duke's struggle with bipolar disorder. The book takes a clinical approach that helps define some of the medical aspects of bipolar illness. Although Patty Duke had suffered episodes of mania as well as depression since her teenage years, she did not know the name of her illness until the age of thirty-five. She states, "From that time on, until I was diagnosed at the age of thirty-five, I rode a wild roller coaster, from agitated, out-of-control highs to disabling, often suicidal lows." In a way, she was relieved at having an official diagnosis, because she could finally put a "name" her illness - explaining, by professional opinion, why she went through such emotional highs and lows. .
In Chapter One, Patty Duke remembers having panic attacks as a small child. These attacks took place while traveling home to visit her mother. On this route, Patty would pass two cemeteries and she would become frightened by the thought of her own death. She states, "As soon as we passed Calvary Cemetery, I would be hit with a panic attack. I did a lot of throat-clearing and wheezing, trying to pretend I was having an asthma attack." These panic attacks would continue to happen throughout Patty's life, and the only way she could deal with them would be to scream. While panic attacks are not a symptom of bipolar disorder, Patty believed that the symptoms were similar, but that her panic attacks and her bipolar disorder illness were independent of each other. .
Patty's manic episodes became increasingly worse, including one episode in which Patty believed that the White House was being overtaken and she could be of assistance in the matter. Patty traveled to Washington D.C. in order to save the President. In her book, she cites several other examples of her disorder. For instance, Patty describes one of her irritable moods this way, "I picked fights with Harry; and then I would fly into the bathroom and swallow half a bottle of whatever pills I had – Valium, Librium or Librax.
