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September 5, 2013

Inside a Cross-Cultural, Bipolar Life

Imagine if no one knows what your illness is, or if it is mistreated by the medical community. How much worse is it, when treatment is possible, but it is prevented or delayed by ignorance.

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Melody Moezzi’s memoir Haldol and Hyacinths: A Bipolar Life

is the harrowing tale of a manic-depressive Iranian-American Muslim woman who was encouraged to keep her illness a secret by her family as well as the medical establishment.

“Imagine if no one knows what your illness is, or if it is mistreated by the medical community. How much worse is it, when treatment is possible, but it is prevented or delayed by ignorance.”

So writes Jeff Schechtman on his Specific Gravity blog, which features this interview with Moezzi. As you will find out, what is inspirational about Moezzi’s story is that she not only refused to keep her illness a secret, she became a vocal public health advocate.

Listen to the podcast here:

Click here to listen on your iphone or ipad /a>

Image courtesy of Shutterstock

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