Scattershot: My Bipolar Family

Scattershot is David Lovelace's poignant, humorous, and vivid account of bipolar disorder's effects on his family, and his gripping exploits as he spent his life running from - and finally learning to embrace - the madness imprinted on his genes. Four out of five people in David Lovelace's immediate family have experienced bipolar disorder - including David himself. In 1986, his father, his brother, and David himself were all committed in quick succession. Only his sister has escaped the disease. A coming-of-age story punctuated by truly harrowing experiences, this devastating and empathetic portrait of the Lovelace family strips away the shame associated with bipolar disorder - a disease that affects approximately 5.7 million adult Americans - and celebrates the profound creative gifts that come with it.