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Quote by David Lovelace

“I've been accustomed to mysteries, holy and otherwise, since I was a child. Some of us care for orphans, amass fortunes, raise protests or Nielsen ratings; some of us take communion or whiskey or poison. Some of us take lithium and antidepressants, and most everyone believes these pills are fundamentally wrong, a crutch, a sign of moral weakness, the surrender of art and individuality. Bullshit. Such thinking guarantees tradgedy for the bipolar. Without medicine, 20 percent of us, one in five, will commit suicide. Six-gun Russian roulette gives better odds. Denouncing these medicines makes as much sense as denouncing the immorality of motor oil. Without them, sooner or later the bipolar brain will go bang. I know plenty of potheads who sermonize against the pharmaceutical companies; I know plenty of born-again yoga instructors, plenty of missionaries who tell me I'm wrong about lithium. They don't have a clue.”

Quote by David Lovelace

Work

Scattershot: My Bipolar Family

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David Lovelace

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“The say addiction might be linked to bipolar disorder. It's the chemicals in our brains, they say. I got the wrong chemicals, Ma. Or rather, I don't get enough of one or the other. They have a pill for it. They have an industry. They make millions. Did you know people get rich off of sadness? I want to meet the millionaire of American sadness. I want to look him in the eye, shake his hand, and say, 'it's been an honor to serve my country.”

“At the clinic, they fed us pills like they were biscuits. Those pills made the tongue loose in my head, my left arm numb from the elbow down. Sometimes the world would smoulder at the edges. Patients came and went, people from every kind of background but all with one thing in common: no longer capable of contributing to society, they needed to be kept out of sight: losers, loners, dreamers, freaks; God forbid they ever make it onto a TV screen.”

“Nie tworzy, nie przekształca. Interpretuje. To, co było ostateczne, czyni przejściowym; to, co było nieuniknione, czyni przypadkowym. Nadaje życiu nową interpretację – uboższą, bardziej sztuczną, napiętnowaną pewną sztywnością. Nie przynosi żadnego szczęścia ani prawdziwej ulgi, jej działanie polega na czym innym: zamieniając życie w ciąg formalności, pozwala skierować człowieka na inne tory. Pozwala ludziom żyć, a przynajmniej nie umierać – przez pewien czas.”