Thirty-two-year-old Rihanna Perry has the job, son, and husband of her dreams. But her world is torn apart when her husband leaves her for another woman. After the combination of the breakup and a major surgery, Rihanna’s mood changes from the way it used to be: she’s never been happier in her life. Soon she’s staying up all night, flirting with men and women (even at work), smoking weed, and starting writing projects she doesn’t finish. On top of everything else, Rihanna discovers that telepathy is real, and attempts to learn the skill of reading minds for the first time.<br><br>Rihanna won’t accept that her long ago diagnosis of bipolar disorder has come back to haunt her. After prompting by her best friend, Rihanna finally goes to the local mental hospital for help. She eventually accepts the fact that she’s been suffering from a manic episode. After being put on medication, she barely has a chance to recover from the mania when she’s thrown into the worst depression she’s ever experienced.<br><br>Medicine alone doesn’t help, so Rihanna must undergo electroconvulsive therapy and a six-month stay at the state mental hospital. Will she ever be stable again?

My Chemical Imbalance

It was all gone.If only I at least had my books,some shred of dignity to hold on to.


I went back to work in mid-June.At least I still had my job.I swear Ethan and his buddies started acting weird again after I came back.Get over it,no one cares.That happened in April!I knew it wouldn’t do any good to explain my mania to Ethan.But Jerod would sympathize.


“I’m glad you’re back,”he said.“I’m sorry.I should have realized the divorce was pretty hard on you,and then you had surgery on top of that.”


“Yeah,those are some big life changes.And I moved.Maybe it was just all too much!”


“I hope you’ve found peace with yourself.”


“I have,”I said.“Finally everything’s okay.”


The next couple weeks were unremarkable,except for my birthday.My life was back to normal and I was now thirty-three,in the prime of life.


Chapter 11