Unglued: A Bipolar Love Story

by Jeffrey Zuckerman

Unglued: A Bipolar Love Story is a gripping, funny, and ultimately hopeful memoir about the effects of a late-onset mental illness on loved ones.

Unlike most memoirs about mental illness, the heart of Unglued is the common but rarely portrayed story of a husband’s own ungluing in the face of his wife’s turmoil.

In 2015, after thirty years of marriage, Jeff Zuckerman’s wife Leah experienced her first manic episode. A twisting four-year path begins with Jeff’s confusion and fear amidst Leah’s uncharacteristic—and undiagnosed—sleeplessness, grandiosity, and rage. Leah is diagnosed with bipolar I disorder and, following her first psychiatric hospitalization, she crashes into a severe depression. As the cycle repeats itself, Jeff discovers deeper meaning from the ordeal, resulting in strengthened resilience and hope.

A tale told with humor, candor, and compassion, Unglued: A Bipolar Love Story will be of particular interest to those with a mood disorder and their caregivers, practitioners, clergy, social workers, medical providers, friends, and relatives seeking to better understand the experience of living with and loving someone living with a mental illness.

“

I laughed aloud one moment and felt terrified the next. Super smart and compassionate. Honest and raw. A comfort to those struggling with the impact of mental illness.

—Amy Sickel, PhD, professor and former psychiatric clinician, Columbia, Md.

A harrowing story by a gifted writer.

—Jeremy Iggers, former columnist, Minneapolis Star Tribune,
coauthor of The Joy of Cheesecake

Without overwhelming the reader, he shows us his fears, frustrations, persistence, and love for his family. And it's funny! Readers on a similar journey will recognize they are not alone and be inspired to keep going.

—Paul P., husband of a woman with bipolar disorder. St. Paul, Minn.

Photo of the author in southwestern Portugal
during his 1984 honeymoon with his wife Leah.