"Paging Dr. Freedman is a testament to the importance of transparency in an otherwise still archaic mental healthcare system. A. Grieme's oftentimes disquieting portrayal and look into the many faces of bipolar disorder, self-medication and addiction from several perspectives show readers the differing embodiments of mental illness." - A. Grieme
"It all started to unravel the night she lost her dress in Connecticut. In fact, that was the first time I felt needed. Truly needed. Mental illness is a tricky thing. It manifests itself differently depending on decades. And if the mentally ill make it through their twenties medicated improperly, alive and unscathed, it just becomes more complicated. Many end their contracts there, but those who continue life beyond that decade have a mission, just one that can't quite be grasped at such an early stage." -Gabriel
Introducing Paging Dr. Freedman, Grieme's harrowing look at bipolar disorder, loosely based on her own experience. It traces the spiraling deconstruction of 20-something Ana Guida, plagued by confusion due to bipolar/schizoaffective disorder. Guida has decided that the only way to allow her loved ones to live life to their fullest is to take herself out of the equation. With her untold story recorded in letters kept in her coveted backpack, Ana makes her escape from a Rhode Island State Hospital toward the crystal blue waters of the Florida Keys to meet her romantic demise, unaware that there are other forces at work, helping or hindering her, as she goes. It all depends on what is needed to unravel the knot in the Tapestry.
Sprinkled with illustrations by artists and photographers Angel Soto, Audrey Sedlak-Barbati and special artistic contributions by Michelle Giles, Jean Melancon and Sean Tiernan, Paging Dr. Freedman braids hope, love and purpose to show our innate resilience. The scientific meets the metaphysical, and the spiritual dance with the bodily in this untamed symphony, defying time and space.
Author A. Grieme was diagnosed at the age of 20 with rapid-cycling bipolar disorder with schizoaffective episodic delusions. Despite the initial wild ride, riddled with what she referred to as prescribed little blue and pink imagination slayers, it was not until her mental tumble from the living a decade later that she was not-so-gently shown her path. Today, she lives to share how she stayed afloat in this ever-cycling existence and to help others understand they can, too.
Grieme lives with Bipolar Disorder; she writes and advocates for the mentally ill, sharing that there is contentment in discontent. It exists.
1st Edition - Paging Dr. Freedman...
"For you, I am including with your signed copy, an interactive daily planner/journal that I created as a token of thanks." - A. Grieme