ISBN: 9780375503580

For years Andy Behrman hid his raging mania behind a larger-than-life personality. No clear picture is presented of his attempts at counseling; there is much skipping around between thera… Mehr…

For years Andy Behrman hid his raging mania behind a larger-than-life personality. No clear picture is presented of his attempts at counseling; there is much skipping around between therapists, from whom he manages to hide the extent of his difficulties. Product DescriptElectroboy is an emotally frenzied memoir that reveals with kaleidoscopic intensity the terrifying world of manic depress. For years Andy Behrman hid his raging mania behind a larger-than-life personality. He sought a high wherever he could find one and changed jobs the way some people change outfits: filmmaker, PR agent, art dealer, stripper-whatever made him feel like a cartoon character, invincible and bright. Misdiagnosed by psychiatrists and psychotherapists for years, his condit exacted a terrible price: out-of-control euphoric highs and tornadolike rages of depress that put his life in jeopardy.Ignoring his crescendoing illness, Behrman struggled to keep up appearances, clinging to the golden-boy image he had cultivated in his youth. But when he turned to art forgery, he found himself the subject of a scandal lapped up by the New York media, then incarcerated, then under house arrest. And for the first time the golden boy didn?t have a ready escape hatch from his unraveling life. Ingesting handfuls of antidepressants and tranquilizers and feeling his mind lose tract, he opted for the last resort: electroshock therapy.At once hilarious and harrowing,Electroboy s a mesmerizing portrait of a man held hostage by his in-satiable desire to consume. Along the way, it shows us the New York that never sleeps: a world of strip clubs, after-hours dives, and twenty-four-hour shops, whose cheap seducts offer comfort to the city?s lonely souls. This unforgettable memoir is a unique contribut to the literature of mental illness and introduces a writer whose energy may well keep you up all night.Amazon.com ReviewPut , , art forgeries, and manic depress into a blender, run it at top speed for 10 minutes, and out popsElectroboy, Andy Behrmans high-octane autobiography. The story begins as an exhilarating view into the manics world, with spontaneous flights to Tokyo, sketchy East Village bars, and a nonstop inner dialogue that makes your pulse race just to keep up. The remainder of the book slows down considerably, starting with Behrmans New Jersey childhood and winding through a successful educat, a rapid accumulat of debts, a forged ing scam that lands him in prison, and finally a series of electroshock treatments that allow him to find some balance in life at last. Between titillating tales of stripping for extra and excessive use, Behrman charts his experiences with therapists and a wide variety of prescript medicats. No clear picture is presented of his attempts at counseling; there is much skipping around between therapists, from whom he manages to hide the extent of his difficulties. In his first experience with Prozac, he doubles his original dose to speed up and later fires his psychiatrist for medicating him like an absolute lunatic. This tale alone makes his doctors come across as more sympathetic characters than Behrman might have intended. Like many confessal memoirs, Electroboy is a blunt tale that relies heavily on the shock value of his ?ber-yuppie behavior, which ends up detracting from the potentially fascinating story of his illness. --Jill LightnerFrom Publishers WeeklyPersonal accounts of mental illness can provide insight into the minds complexities not only for the public but for specialists seeking better treatments for their patients. Freuds theory of paranoia, for example, was richly informed by his reading of Dr. Daniel Paul Schrebers Memoirs of My Nervous Illness. But in Behrmans account, its unclear whether the authors descripts of his psychological struggles are intended to clarify his experience of illness or to exploit the sensatalistic aspects of his manic depress ( binges, ual escapades and treatment with electroshock therapy) for fun and profit. The crux of Behrmans narrative involves his work as the publicist for pop artist Mark Kostabi. After helping Kostabi a, Gut, Festpreisangebot, [LT: FixedPrice], Bestes Angebot, [LT: BestOffer], Edition Description: First Edition, Binding: Hardcover, Publication Date: 19-02-2002, Sprache: English, Country of Origin: USA, United States, Manufacturer/Packer/Importer Details: ERGODE, Net Quantity/Number of Units: 1, Dimensions (LxWxH) - Inches: 1.1X8.4X5.7, ISBN-10: 0375503587, ISBN-13: 9780375503580, SKU: SONG0375503587, Buchtitel: Electroboy: A Memoir of Mania, Random House<