High Times & Rough Rides of a Bipolar Addict

If anyone who reads my life story can somehow prevent even a single child or teenager from repeating my mistakes and avoid unnecessary future suffering, then my struggles will not have been in vain. Imagine being arrested, handcuffed and locked behind the bars of a large, dark, cold jail. The next day you are forcibly dragged to a high-rise building and thrust into a 4'x 8' solid steel-walled cell. Your freedom is ripped away, even though you have not been charged with a single crime. The prison guard tells you, "They are going to lock you up and throw away the key!" You are driven to an insane asylum where a psychiatrist prescribes shock treatments. The first electric voltages pass through your brain, and your heart stops. You are revived, then given a series of nine more ECT treatments without anesthesia. Each one feels like a sledge hammer to your head. You remain confined indoors and drugged for months. Then one day you are told you can go home and to "Have a nice life!" This is my story. --Kerry Barger