Kitt describes her struggle to manage bipolar disorder in Balancing Act. Her profound knowledge of herself enhances her coping abilities as she learns to avoid triggers that will likely exacerbate her symptoms. She reminds readers that medication can only go so far and that a wide array of tools are needed to keep the illness under control. This book will bring comfort, validation, hope, and education especially to anyone with bipolar disorder.
Lynn Nanos, LICSW, author of Breakdown: A Clinician's Experience in a Broken System of Emergency Psychiatry, LynnNanos.com
Balancing Act: Writing Through A Bipolar Life is an extraordinarily useful, fascinating book. Kitt O'Malley shares rich insights about living with bipolar disorder as she navigates being a mother, a caregiver for her aging parents, and much more.Balancing Act is imbued with compelling honesty. Written from a place of compassion informed by Kitt's background as a psychotherapist, this account will help anyone affected by bipolar disorder. Balancing Act is are freshing and original addition to mental health literature!
Dyane Harwood, Author, Birth of a New Brain--Healing from Postpartum Bipolar Disorder, DyaneHarwood.wordpress.com
Kitt O'Malley offersus her raw personal journey into a life with bipolar disorder. Her writing style gives the reader an intimate sense of how bipolar mood swings can both energize and fragment a devoted wife, mother, daughter, writer, volunteer, and professional therapist. But, Balancing Act also reminds us of the importance of self-care in managing a mental illness. Her struggle to define personal boundaries reflects the painful dilemma that caretakers often experience,especially when they're suffering in silence. Kitt's resolve to accept her personal limits brought by bipolar disorder gives permission for others to care compassionately for themselves.
Michael G. Pipich,MS, LMFT, psychotherapist, and author of Owning Bipolar: How Patients and Families Can Take Control of Bipolar Disorder, MichaelPipich.com
In Balancing Act,the brilliant, accomplished blogger, author, and mental health advocate, Kitt O'Malley provides a finite road map and a brutally honest glimpse inside the daily frustrations of living with mental illness. Sharing her twenty-year struggle with jarring and frank openness, O'Malley's time as a psychotherapist provides a fresh approach and ability to dissect mental illness while sharing a window inside her fears, frustrations, the quest for balance and med stability.O'Malley's honesty is both unique and refreshing. Her unconventional willingness to share her hard-earned nuggets of wisdom and knowledge is a precious gift to survivors and mental health advocates. Balancing Act isa treasure trove of experience, tender and raw poetry, and a deep dive inside mental illness. Insurmountable faith and love of family are the threads that keep O'Malley grounded and alive. As a writer; I was inspired. As a survivor of Bipolar Disorder; I was enthralled. As a mental health advocate; I was humbled and grateful. Balancing Act is an absolutely vital resource, and Kitt O'Malley is the unconventional, necessary mental health ally, doting wife and mother, balancing life with mental illness more than just fine.
Jacqueline Cioffa, author of bipolar memoir The Red Bench: A Descent and Ascent into Madness, and novels The Vast Landscape and Georgia Pine, JacquelineCioffa.com
Kitt O'Malley is an awesome advocate and an excellent storyteller. Her honesty shines through on each page of her book and gives the reader a glimpse into life with bipolar disorder.
Gabe Howard, author of Mental Illness is an Asshole and Other Observations, host of The Psych Central Podcast and co-host of A Bipolar, A Schizophrenic, And A Podcast,mental health speaker, GabeHoward.com
