Devout A Memoir of Doubt

A “moving” (Leslie Jamison, author of The Recovering) memoir that reconciles the author’s bipolar disorder diagnosis and her Evangelical faith to create a new framework for which to live.

In this “dazzling” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) memoir, Anna Gazmarian tells the story of how her Evangelical upbringing in North Carolina failed to help her understand the mental health diagnosis she received, and the work she had to do to find proper medical treatment while also maintaining her faith.

When Anna is diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2011, she’s faced with a conundrum: while the diagnosis provides clarity about her manic and depressive episodes, she must confront the stigma that her Evangelical community attaches to her condition. Over the course of ten years, we follow Anna on her journey to reframe her understanding of mental health to expand the limits of what her religious practice can offer.

In Devout: A Memoir of Doubt, Anna shows that pursuing our emotional health and our spiritual well-being is one single mission and, in both cases, an act of faith.

Anna Gazmarian holds an MFA in creative writing from the Bennington Writing Seminars. Her essays have been published in The Rumpus, Longreads, The Sun, and The Guardian. Anna works for The Sun Magazine and lives with her family in Durham, North Carolina.