Why Did She Jump? - 9780757316975

Six million people in America suffer from bipolar disorder. Joan Child's daughter, Pamela, suffered from bipolar, bouncing from doctor to doctor in search of treatment. Yet the demons great louder, and on a summer day in July 1998, the same day that the Oprah Winfrey showed aired a segment on Bipolar Disease, Joan Childs' 34-year-old-daughter leaped to her death from the window of her father's 15-story apartment. An Angel to Remember is her mother Joan's haunting story of grief and guilt, yet it is a beautiful story of love and the courage to find peace and purpose once again.

With brutal honesty and vivid detail, Joan recalls how the entire family became entangled with Pam's illness as they watched her dive deeper into the darkness where no one could reach her. Ironically, Pam and Joan were both psychotherapists yet, with all their credentials and medical knowledge, Pam still could not be saved. An Angel to Remember masterfully looks back even as it looks forward. Written with vivid memories of Pamela's troubled yet loving life and the final days of her funeral and shiva (a 7-day mourning period in Judaism), the story will break your heart and then mend it again.