How a woman suffering from bipolar disorder found a life worth living

part of our commitment here at cbs news is stopping the stigma around mental health we're bringing you the story of a mother-daughter duo who are donating books to raise awareness sonja watson and her daughter rachel sidaway co-wrote an impossible life it details wasston's struggle with bipolar disorder and how it affected her family and her friends before the pandemic the pair traveled to libraries all around the country dr tara narula has been following their story joins us now good morning to you tara can't wait to meet them good morning gail we spoke to sonia and rachel right before the pandemic shut down libraries and halted travel but that hasn't stopped them from sharing this message mental health does not discriminate based on location education or socioeconomic status it can affect anyone the mother and daughter's story is one of love hope and triumph you just feel like you can't breathe it becomes so painful that you no longer see your children your husband and all it is is left as this pain sonia wasden has struggled with bipolar disorder for most of her life you said that you stopped looking at death with sympathy and started looking at death with envy yeah i wanted to die i was desperate to get relief of the pain and that's the only way i saw out at 35 the mother of three was forced into a psychiatric hospital my husband had hit rock bottom and said this is it we've got to get her in the hospital and i refused to go and the doctors asked me do you have thoughts of suicide and i said well of course just like you do and when he said well how many times do you think of suicide a day and i thought well just the average amount just as often as you do and so i was admitted against my will was that the turning point for you in terms of starting to get on a road towards treatment yes they started giving me medicine and that's when they made me face my diagnosis that i was bipolar and i did rachel is the oldest of sonia's children did you know that your mother was sick growing up all i knew was my mom was really fun and then she'd get really sad we were all aware she tried to take her own life but because we knew ultimately she loved us and we are best friends i could see her as a person going through something hard and almost feel more compassion for her as my best friend as my mother i loved instead of letting it be traumatizing we all feel like we're this tight little army group that were in a foxhole together and we came out stronger for it together the mother-daughter duo wrote an impossible life sharing their story of survival at what point did you finally decide it was time to reveal your illness after my attempted suicide i was taken to the hospital where my husband was ceo and a leading psychiatrist there told him never bring her back to this hospital again take her where no one knows you guys and i felt shame and embarrassed and there was like almost a fire that got lit in me of i am not going to hide anymore the truth needs to be told and they've gone beyond just telling the truth before the pandemic hit they traveled more than 32 000 miles on their own dime to 42 states and have donated more than 500 books since then they have mailed more than 100 books to libraries that have reopened we're here to donate our story and to raise mental health awareness one local library at a time they made something beautiful out of the pain both for rachel and sonya's relationship it was so healing when i was 16 i found my mom's suicide now and i was really angry i thought it was selfish that she'd want to leave me and my entire family just like that and after writing this book with her i have a better understanding of the pain she went through and for those who have read the book oh my god like kimberly guin who met sonia for the first time at brooklyn public library reading sonia's book was very powerful in the sense that it enabled me to forgive myself it enabled me to have more compassion for myself for the mistakes i made because obviously you don't choose this the book helped me understand what my family members would have gone through but most importantly it gave me hope by offering hope sonia has found purpose in her suffering to show readers what was once an impossible life is now a possible one how are you feeling now good i have a beautiful life now my marriage of 27 years is going strong i have good relationships with all my children i don't stay in bed all day anymore yes i have a mental illness and yes i have moments of pain and anxiety and difficulty it's a lifelong illness that i have to manage but i can have a life worth living too wow sonia's father was diagnosed with bipolar disorder later in life and died by suicide one of her sons was also diagnosed with bipolar disorder and is doing well the most important thing they told us is to keep talking about it especially now when many feel so isolated or alone if you or someone you know is in crisis contact the national suicide prevention lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 and you see the effect of people talking and coming out and telling their story how healing it is for the person involved for the family and for anyone who's read this book but bravo to sonia though when they go to her husband's hospital and they said next time go someplace where they don't know and she goes no you can't do that to me that's tara that was very powerful it's going to help a lot of people all right thank you tara

Channel: CBS Mornings

Views: 19,360

Keywords: mental illness, bipolar, stigma, stop the stigma, mother, daughter, books, donating, tara narula, health

Id: 2CgOHeID0Qs

Length: 6min 9sec (369 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 30 2020