Improbable and Extraordinary: A Transformation of Mental Illness and Addiction

“….I think that the reason why this book is important and so powerful is because it tells a story of pain, wrongdoing, hurt, personal flaws with deep honesty and openness.  Many memoires or personal stories of struggle are often about what has been done to the writer.  What they have endured in their lives.  This book does speak about what he suffered as a child and adolescent.  But it also speaks about what he struggled with that led him to wrongdoings.  It is about his honest acknowledgement that he has many flaws of character, how he calls them, and how he is now able to not give in to the many impulses these flaws generate.  This book is about the most honest account of the inner world of a boy, adolescent and man who struggled with more than negative thinking.  His description of his inner world gives a look inside the experience of someone who has bipolar disorder, which was likely complicated by the many abuses he endured as a child. 

          I am 3 years younger than Saúl.  Some of my early recollections of him are of him being beaten by my dad.  I was 4 years old or so when my dad beat him with his belt to the point of leaving welts all over his back.  I remember hearing him beg and plead, “no more, please, no more!!!” and my father kept hurting him as if he was an animal (in fact my father never treated his dogs like that!).   By the time my father stopped, and my brother came to the room where Jaime (our other brother) and I were sitting on the bed horrified at what was going on in the living room, his back had welts all over, just like the slaves I have seen in films.  He was only 7 years old or so. 

          ….. But for me, his mental illness made it impossible to have a close relationship with him.  And yet one day, my mom told me that his family had asked him to move out. And he had no place to live.  I got into gear and called Jaime and told him we needed to help him.  He was out there with no money and no place to live.  We started sending him money to make sure he was safe. 

          …. And then, about 8 years ago, I had to opportunity to spend more time with him because I was travelling to Campeche where he lives several times a year because one of my daughters now lives there. 

          Oh my God!!! As I spent time with him, the transformation was beyond anything I could have imagined possible!  And let me say, he was not bullshitting me.  I could see he was walking the talk.  He transformed into someone who knows how to listen.  Who has so much wisdom.  Who lives with humility that is rare.  Who trusts and accepts what happens.  Who is honest and self-aware.  Who accepts life as it is.  Who takes responsibility.  Who owns his mistakes.  I was in awe.  He has bipolar disorder.  He is not on medication.  And he no longer presents with most of the symptoms he had: hypersexuality, grandiosity, deep depressions, mania with out-of-control behaviors, non-stop talking, flight of ideas, inappropriate and impulsive words, and behaviors.  I was completely amazed and touched deeply by his transformation.  He is truly my hero. 

          …. As a practicing psychologist with a doctorate, having seen hundreds of patients, and supervised other therapists’ cases, and taught in two universities, I had never witnessed a transformation like this one in someone who had bipolar disorder by the book and who transformed his life without medication.  It is truly a story of hard work and miracles.  A miracle not necessary in the religious sense.  But in the sense of something unlikely, almost impossible, coming to reality.  This is the story of my big brother, Saúl. 

          ….. So, I convinced him to write this book.”