I commend Aaron David Gottfried for sharing his experiences with bipolar disorder, Scientology and psychiatry.



Scientology not only opposes psychiatry, but thinks psychiatry is useless and ineffective, there's no such thing as a chemical imbalance, and prescription drugs are the problem not the answer.



You may recall Tom Cruise condemning psychiatry in general, and criticising Brooke Shields in particular, for seeking psychiatric help and taking antidepressants which she acknowledged saved her life. His authority: not direct experience, but reading reports, presumably internal reports written by scientologists.



Ironically, Scientology claims it's better than psychiatry, as it uses secret techniques without using drugs. Unfortunately, when you express such views it displays what psychiatrists call dogmatic thinking.



So, Aaron describes how he got depression, soon replaced with huge amounts of energy as he enters the manic phase of his illness, the speeding thoughts, elation and delusions. He describes the experience with amazing clarity and accuracy. Both his parents were Scientologists, so they did not go the psychiatric route, although his mother as a nurse got him legal drugs to control his moods.



Instead, at his own request, he gets into Scientology, and gets audited and as his behavior gets more out of control he gets sent to different facilities such as a bootcamp in the desert.



However, as his behavior gets worse, his parents have to intervene. Other Scientologists call them up and harass them.



I lost a family member to bipolar many years ago, and have personal experience with depression. If someone has an issue like this, it requires immediate medical attention. The earlier the intervention, the sooner the resolution. In fact, his parents are lucky, things could have so easily taken a different turn. There are resources beyond mainstream psychiatry, but medicine is the first stop. Always.



One of my favorite insights from the book: the more confident you feel the less you care what other people think. It's all about finding the right balance.



I found his insider description of the Scientology processes very interesting, and wished he would explain it in more detail, (perhaps in a second edition and considering all that happens, he gives a remarkably balanced look at Scientology, neither condemning it outright nor advocating it. If you're like me you will get some interesting insights from this book.



I don't know if claiming to offer better solutions than medical or psychiatric science is even legal. I don't think bashing psychiatry is productive. Certainly, it's dangerously irresponsible to prevent people from seeking medical help when they need it. I highly commend this book.



I trust you find this review helpful, and the book enjoyable.