episode; one so severe that all faculties of his life were essentially disengaged as his mind became consumed by detrimental, even dangerous thought patterns. Insomnia was constant, his mood was one of perpetual "dank joylessness", his appetite diminished and he experienced a particularly odd aversion to alcohol--which had previously been, in his own words, "an invaluable senior partner with my intellect". Also absent was any initiative or ambition to work, play, participate or basically interact with others. Unable to apply himself to his profession, several projects and works-in-progress were abrubtly abandoned and lay gathering dust for months on end.While his wife and family were sympathetic to the situation and various remedies were prescribed and proposed--all ineffective--little change came. In fact it got worse. Months into his illness, Styron began to have recurring self-destructive fantasies and was finally admitted to the psychiatric ward of a hospital for observance. It wasn't until a sustained period of drug treatments and psychotherapy that Styron's despair was ultimately lifted and his world began to be more accommodating. Personalized memoirs and essays focusing on mental illness don't always connect readers who, often times, tend to be either unsympathetic, dispassionate or unmoved by the unseen afflictions described by the narrator. But Styron's melodramatic recollections on his plight offer a genuine glimpse at his helplessness, the inner turmoil and fragmented mental capacities of his condition, not to mention the legitimately dire medical implications the "disease" ultimately instigated. (616.8527 STYRON)
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