Sept. 12, 2006
Electroboy to speak at Clark
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Speaker and author to discuss notorious journey through manic depression
Worcester, Mass. - "Electroboy: A Memoir of Mania" is Andy Behrman's chronicle of his battle with manic depression or bipolar disorder. Behrman will present his inside story, sign books and answer questions during a visit to Clark University, beginning with booksigning at 6 p.m. Sept. 26, in the Daniels Theatre, Atwood Hall, Downing Street. This event, sponsored by the Dean of Students office, is free and open to the public.
An Amazon.com reviewer writes, "Put sex, drugs, art forgeries, and manic depression into a blender, run it at top speed for ten minutes, and out pops ELECTROBOY, Andy Behrman's high-octane autobiography."
From www.electroboy.com: For years Behrman hid his raging mania under a larger-than-life personality. He sought a high wherever he could find one, and changed jobs as some people change outfits -- filmmaker, art dealer, hustler; whatever made him feel like a cartoon character, invincible and bright. Electroboy is about living life at breakneck speed. Behrman hopped on flights from New York to Tokyo and Paris at a moment's notice, spent $25,000 without a bit of thought on a huge shopping spree and stayed awake nights exploring the underworld of nightlife in Manhattan or whatever city he happened to be visiting, in search of the perfect high. But when Andy turned to art forgery, he found himself the subject of a scandal lapped up by the New York media, then in jail, then under house arrest. And for once he didn't have a ready escape hatch from his unraveling life.
Behrman was misdiagnosed by more than eight doctors and even when he was finally diagnosed with this chronic illness, he was treated unsuccessfully with any regimen of medication. Ingesting handfuls of antidepressants and tranquilizers, he felt his mind lose traction. With no hope of his condition stabilizing, he turned to the last resort: electroshock therapy also known as electroconvulsive therapy (or ECT). He underwent nineteen electroshock treatments over the course of about a year and a half.
Now Behrman is a mental health writer and speaker who has traveled to more than fifty cities across the United States and Canada, speaking to more than two hundred mental health organizations and support groups, psychiatric groups, college audiences, and book clubs. "Electroboy: A Memoir of Mania" has been translated into six foreign languages and is distributed worldwide in places as far away as Australia and New Zealand, Hong Kong, Latin America, and South Africa. His articles have been featured in The New York Times Magazine, New York Magazine, on the BBC, and in various mental health publications and websites. Recently Behrman was featured on CNN's "360" with Anderson Cooper, and NPR's "The Infinite Mind."
A graduate of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, Behrman currently lives mania-free in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter. Electroboy is currently being made into a major motion picture, starring "Spiderman" star Toby McGuire. Behrman is working on a sequel to Electroboy and also writing a self-help book for sufferers of depression and bipolar disorder.