"This book is a must read for anyone who has a loved one with serious mental illness who says 'I am not sick, I don't need help!' Judy lays out the common pitfalls encountered by family members in this situation. The powerlessness, self-doubt, loss of self-esteem and depression that she felt are common. I have no doubt that her candid description of her experience will be healing to others. Once I started, I could not put this book down. It is ultimately a love story. It is about love persevering in the worst of all possible conditions."
"First and foremost Judy Eron is a storyteller—and a very brave and honest one at that. The story she tells is poignant, revealing, and courageous. Judy's personal battle with her husband's bipolar illness has a tragic ending, but along the way we have a glimpse of true love, affection, and dedication. This story takes us up and takes us down. We experience the high of living life to the fullest as well as the lows of fear, confusion, and despair. It is a rollercoaster ride as seen through the heart and soul of a loving partner. We see first-hand both the stigma of mental illness from the outside and the denial of mental illness from the inside. This is a love song written by a survivor of suicide, at times sad, heart-breaking and frightening, yet at other times brimming with life, loving, and living. This story is a testament to the importance of treating bipolar illness from a biopsychosocial perspective. It is not just an endorsement of lithium but also a plea for collaboration between family and professionals. A must read for anyone who lives with mania, depression, or any of those psychological states in-between."
"Powerful and informative. Judy Eron openly shares the sorts of devastation and tragedy that families all too often face when a loved one has manic-depressive illness."
"What Goes Up. . .is an engaging tale of denial and its tragic aftermath. It depicts the inevitable downhill course of a man with bipolar disorder who denies his illness, and thus stops taking his lithium. And of his social worker wife, who also denies what is happening until it is too late. There is an obvious moral here for individuals with bipolar disorder and their families, and the book will be very useful for them."
"Finally, in a genre overcrowded with self help and how-to books, this is the book for family and friends of people suffering from bipolar disorder. In Judy Eron's account of her husband's battle with bipolar disorder (and her own as a caregiver), you'll learn to understand the horrors of this invisible illness and how to make sense of it. It's the book I wish my friends and family had read a decade ago."
"Judy Eron's talk at our clinical psychology colloquium ('Living with a Partner with Bipolar Illness') was a true highlight of the year for our students and faculty alike. Judy's ability to convey the complex and awful truths of bipolar illness and suicide was remarkable and gripping--a great example of the clinical phrase 'experience-near.' Using songs, stories, and narrative to illustrate the story of her and her husband's odyssey through his illness was a poignant reminder to all that our best efforts can still sometimes fail to heal those we care about (including, of course, our loved ones and our patients)--and how despite this, we must continue to care, listen, and develop ever better ways of helping. Judy's talk was memorable and vivid--she's a terrific speaker and a courageous human being."
"Judy is truly magical. We had excellent publicity and an overflow crowd. We actually had to turn away over 30 people and the fire marshal was pretty unhappy with us! But he became interested and stayed also! Judy 's story and presentation had a warmth and understanding that reached out to the audience. There was a lot of interaction that she handled well. She talked, sang, played her guitar, laughed and empathized with the listeners. It was a great experience for all of us."
"Judy Eron brings a compassion and spirit to her presentation that only she can accomplish. The emotion in her delivery touches everyone in her audience. When she talked and sang to our DBSA San Diego Support Group there were 60+ people in attendance, There wasn't a dry eye in the lecture hall. Many people came up to me afterward saying that she made them realize that a mentally ill son, daughter, spouse, brother, sister, etc. impacts the whole family and they see the need for major changes in the way their family addresses the illness. They will try to work together toward a common goal.....stability. Judy accomplished this with humor, music and a very honest approach, by telling the truth. There were many people with bipolar there that night and she showed them a different perspective. Everyone walked away with a much deeper understanding of the turmoil mental illness can cause in the uneducated, unprepared family........and the need for preparation and education."
"Judy Eron's personal story, told in song and word, had a tremendous impact. Her presentation to staff and faculty touched the hearts of the listeners and made real the struggles of living with someone who has bipolar disorder. Students and community members were also moved by her presentation. Judy's courage in talking about her experience makes her presentation all the more moving and educational. She is able to describe the clinical picture without the use of clinical terms, conveying the struggle that a person with bipolar disorder endures. She embodies teaching and learning and is able to share her lessons in a style that makes it easy to hear and to learn from."
"Our large medical staff of psychiatrists is accustomed to high-quality presentations in our Grand Rounds series. Given this fact, it was significant that this sophisticated audience sat spellbound through Judy’s presentation, to the point that you could hear a pin drop. What makes Judy’s presentation especially powerful and memorable, is her simple, casual but intelligent, understated personable style. She connects very well with her audience, with a welcome absence of any superfluous melodramatic component, since the inherent drama of her story requires no embellishment and speaks for itself."
