"Up from the Ashes: One Doc's Struggle with Drugs and Mental Illness" is a tangible saga of one doctor's struggle with such an illness. It is a story that is readily understandable. What makes this book special is that Dr. Dorsen is a physician whose illness was so severe he lost his license to practice. But in "Up from the Ashes" he reveals his ultimate process of understanding and exposition -- making it both alarming and freeing. Generally, in this society physicians are not readily given to such self-revelation. Dr. Dorsen, by doing so, offers his readers the chance to make such a journey via his persona. In the process, manic depression, its earlier appellation, becomes less anathema and more representational and freeing that any of us, even a professional, can suffer by mixing drugs and mental illness. In Dr. Dorsen's case as a physician, it is from such a privileged position in our society that he so openly reveals what can happen to any man or woman innately suffering from such a condition.
Review :
"... is a legacy for the entire world to read and learn that the combination of bipolar disorder and addiction can be successfully treated and controlled."
-- Faruk Abuzzahab, M.D.
"Dr. Dorsen's personal and poignant life story. It is a risky self-disclosure that mirrors hope to anyone, regardless of profession, who may suffer from co-occurring illnesses."
-- Bill Manahan, M.D., author of Eat for Health: Fast and Simple
Ways of Eliminating Disease Without Medical Assistance
"Here's an absolutely unique point of view on bipolar disorder: from the inside, from having lived it, and from someone with the clinical training to know what he's talking about. It is a terrific story, albeit a sad one, about a life that was wildly screwed up by this disease from a very early age, with major ramifications for the people whose lives were entwined with the author's, as well as his own. It reads at times like a suspense novel, and offers readers the not insignificant gift of self-irony."
-- Susanna Margolis, author of Walking Europe
from Top to Bottom and Adventuring in the Pacific
"This book offers readers the tale of a painful personal struggle, the sort of story not often told about a kind and caring physician who was not given the help he needed and who lost his career. It is a soulful, cautionary tale, which was painful for me, a fellow physician, to read. Yet his story shouts with insight and redemption. It should offer lessons to those who oversee fellow professionals in trouble."
-- Daniel Tartaglia M.D., FRACP
