The mysteries of the human mind continue to puzzle. Mental illness remains the last great uncharted and misunderstood frontier in medicine. Although understanding has advanced over the past two decades through efforts of various mental health organizations, for many the specter of an ill mind becomes cause for fear and shunning of the patient. The media deserves both bouquets and brickbats for its uneven coverage of medical explorations into the reasons why mental illness strikes some families, avoids others.
By reporting every new study uncritically, the press contributes to the confusion and helps to perpetuate the old fears about those unfortunate individuals who are "odd" or "different." In the past few years, several important books have appeared which serve to bring new knowledge and important information about the root causes of mental illness. One of the best books to explain manic depression was actress Patty Duke's A Brilliant Madness: Living with Manic-Depressive Illness (Bantam, $22.50), published in 1992. Writing with Gloria Hochman, Duke does a brilliant service to patients, their loved ones, and the general public in demystifying this vexing disorder. Other books of worth include Tracy Thompson's 1995 book, The Beast (Putnam, $23.95), in which the Washington Post reporter describes her battle with depression.
When Madness Comes Home (Hyperion, $23.95) is an excellent source of help for the children, siblings, and partners of the mentally ill. Author Victoria Secunda explains the various mental maladies in straightforward, readable terms.
Best single text I've come across is Depression: The Mood Disease (Johns Hopkins, $15.95), published in 1993 in a revised edition. Author Francis Mark Mondimore is a practicing psychiatrist in North Carolina who has assembled a tremendous amount of information in a compact 236 pages.
Finally, a brand new book offers a different look at the malady.
The relationship between mother and daughter normally creates a special bond. But for Jacki Lyden, that wasn't easy. Her mother suffered from manic depression, undiagnosed for more than two decades.
The rift between Delores and her three daughters now has been partially papered over after psychiatrists finally prescribed lithium, which restored her to sanity. Daughter of the Queen of Sheba (Houghton Mifflin, $24) tells the story of Jacki and Delores, who despite repeated episodes of outrageous behavior which caused devastation to herself and her loved ones, emerges in this remarkable memoir as one of the most entrancing if exasperating characters ever captured on paper.
Lyden is a senior correspondent for National Public Radio. In this, her first book, she illuminates with humor and perspicuity this highly unusual mother-daughter relationship. Lyden's powers of description, her ability to get inside herself and the tortured person that her mother was, makes for mesmerizing reading.
There's an odd dichotomy in the book, as chapters alternate between moments of hilarity, contrasted with times of utter despair. Delores manages to nearly destroy herself while living a life that some might even envy. The book's title comes from the time Ms. Lyden returned home to find her mother swathed in sheets with her arms covered with hieroglyphics applied with an eyeliner. Delores announced, "I am the Queen of Sheba and I bequeath to each of my three daughters a country. To you, Jacki, the oldest, Mesopotamia. To your sister Kate, Thebes. To my youngest daughter, Sarah, who is 9, Carthage."
Over the years Delores took on many personalities. She became Marie Antoinette, then the daughter of a Mafia chieftain. Later she's a department store heiress and then the scion of a catering empire. Her illness destroyed her second marriage, to a physician whose coldness toward his stepdaughters caused them grief. Delores would pen letters to a secret lover, a man she'd never met. Once she drove hundreds of miles to a penitentiary after receiving a clown painting from an inmate. Delores thought the painting whispered, "I have a message from God."
As long as the mother holds center stage, the book fascinates and saddens. Here is an individual of tremendous energy and intelligence, suffering for so long with an illness that only recently has come to be even partially understood. Today, with a combination of drugs and therapy, most manic depressives have a good outcome. Since Delores began taking lithium a few years ago, she has remained lucid, although that wild, often wonderfully engaging personality has diminished.
Daughter of the Queen of Sheba paints an intriguing portrait. It speaks volumes about the importance of familial bonding.
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