Welcome to the Jungle: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Bipolar but Were Too Freaked Out to Ask »

Hilary Smith is a brilliant young writer and artist living largely off the grid (but very reachable by email and snail mail and telephone, when necessary) in the Pacific Northwest.

Bipolar is one of the most commonly diagnosed emotional/psychiatric condition and diagnosis tends to come when one is in one's late teens or early 20s. And yet almost nothing has been written about it from eye level and a young person's perspective. Welcome to the Jungle fills that gap with its upfront, empowering approach to the challenges of being diagnosed bipolar. Both humorous and immensely honest, it offers a true "in the trenches" perspective young readers will trust.

With chapters ranging from What Just Happened?:Life Beyond Diagnosis to Here Be Downers: Drugs, Booze, and Suicide to Hippy Shit That Actually Works: Herbs, Wilderness Time, and Other Ways to Help Keep Your Shit Together to Hell is Finding Good Insurance: How to Get Your Ass Covered in Troubled Times, Smith brings bipolar self help to the street level.

Library Journal

Smith, editor of The Med Magazine, an online satire magazine aimed at young people with mental illness, provides a new guide to bipolar disorder that specifically targets the youth market. One of the more common psychiatric conditions, bipolar disorder tends to be diagnosed in one's late teens or early twenties. Smith, diagnosed at 19, here reveals her frustration with the available works, which treated the disorder clinically and missed her particular interests and concerns. This led her to write this hip and often humorous work. In sensible language pulled directly from the vernacular of today's youth, Smith provides solid information on dealing with the initial diagnosis, what to expect from the typical cycles of mania and depression, understanding today's new medications, finding the most appropriate psychiatrist, maintaining one's cool during the tough times, avoiding drugs and alcohol, managing the disorder while working or in school, and dealing with friends and family. Also included are helpful web sites tailored to younger readers. VERDICT Among the wealth of works on bipolar, this title (wisely pulled from a Guns N' Roses lyric) nicely stands out as a super reference for younger readers interested in or actually experiencing bipolar disorder and is also a valuable resource for professionals.—Dale Farris, Groves, TX