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MENTAL ILLNESS
To The Best of Our Knowledge
from Wisconsin Public Radio
We all have our good days and our bad days, but chances
are they're nothing like what Andy Behrman has experienced. Behrman
would fly from Zurich to the Bahamas and back in three days to balance
hot and cold weather. On the bad days, he'd experience tornado-like
rages of depression. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge,
Andy Behrman shares his story of the highs and lows of life as a
manic-depressive. Also, the invisible plague: the rise of mental
illness from1750 to the present.
SEGMENT 1:
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Andy Behrman chronicles
his experiences with manic-depressive illness in his book
"Electroboy: A Memoir of Mania." He describes
some of the excesses of his manic state (like flying halfway
around the world to get better weather) in this conversation
with Steve Paulson, and talks about the course of electric
shock therapy that finally got his illness under control.
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SEGMENT 2:
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Peter
Yellowlees
is a professor of psychiatry at the University of Queensland
in Australia. His lab has built a device that recreates
the aural and visual hallucinations typical of schizophrenia.
Yellowlees tells Steve Paulson about this virtual-reality
environment and explains how it can help both patients and
care-givers. E. Fuller Torrey is a research psychiatrist
who believes there has been a five fold increase in the
incidence of insanity in the last 250 years. He tells Jim
Fleming about his theory that some infectious agent is to
blame. Torrey is the co-author (with July Miller) of "The
Invisible Plague: The Rise of Mental Illness from 1750 to
the Present."
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SEGMENT 3:
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John MacGregor is an
art historian with psychiatric training, and the author
of "Henry Darger: In the Realms of the Unreal."
He tells Jim Fleming about Darger - a janitor and dishwasher
who devoted all his free time to secretly writing a fifteen
thousand page novel, lavishly illustrated with mural sized
paintings. The book and paintings depict a grotesque and
lurid fantasy world of child torture and enslavement. Also,
Nell Casey tells Anne Strainchamps about her sister
Maud, who suffered from manic-depression. Maud's own strength,
coupled with the heroic support of her family enabled her
to recover. Nell Casey includes essays by herself and Maud
in the book she edited: "Unholy Ghost: Writers on Depression."
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Cassette copies are available
at 1-800-747-7444. Ask for program number 02-10-06-B.
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Books:
- Andy Behrman, Electroboy:
A Memoir of Mania (Random House)
- Nell Casey,
ed., Unholy Ghost: Writers On Depression (William Morrow)
- John M. MacGregor,
Henry Darger: In The Realms of the Unreal (Delano
Greenidge Editions)
- E. Fuller Torrey, M.D. and Judy Miller The
Invisible Plague: The Rise of Mental Illness from 1750 to the
Present (Rutgers University Press)
Music:
- -- Montage: "Nervous Breakdown"/Eddie
Cochran (from the CD, "Somethin' Else: The Fine Lookin' Hits
of Eddie Cochran", Razor & Tie); "Cracking Up"/Nick
Lowe (from the CD, "Labour Of Lust", Columbia); "Psycho"/Elvis
Costello & the Attractions
(from the CD, "Almost Blue", Rykodisc); "They're
Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haa!"/Napoleon XIV (from the CD,
"The Second Coming", Rhino)
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-- "Inner Laugh"/Money Mark from the
CD, "Mark's Keyboard Repair" (Mowax/Full Frequency
Range Recordings)
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-- "Morning"/Mark Adler from the CD,
"Focus: Original Score" (Milan/BMG)
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-- "End Title: Theme from Focus"/Mark
Adler from the CD, "Focus: Original Score" (Milan/BMG)
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-- "Henry Darger"/Natalie Merchant from
the CD, "Motherland" (Elektra)
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-- "Have A Little Faith In Me"/John
Hiatt from the CD, "Bring The Family" (A&M)
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-- "Sunday Gardena Blvd."/Money
Mark from the CD, "Mark's Keyboard Repair" (Mowax/Full
Frequency Range Recordings)
Distribution dates:
Also this week: Hour One: War
Games
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Questions and comments can
be addressed to: flemingj@wpr.org
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