Coleman - Bipolar faith: a black womans journey with depression and faith

A stunning, unforgettable read, Bipolar Faith grabs you with the first exquisitely composed paragraphs and wont let you go until the final page is turned. Even then, its impact lingers. To say this is a book about mental health severely limits its scope, which includes arresting reflections on race, womanhood, death, love, sex, community, and joy. A master storyteller, Coleman seamlessly knits together the personal and universal, the particular and the communal. Hers is one of the clearest and most compelling voices in Christian literature today. Let those with ears hear.

Rachel Held Evans
Author of Searching for Sunday
and A Year of Biblical Womanhood

Monica A. Coleman is a courageous and brilliant theo-logian whose wisdom and rigor helps sustain many of us. This unique and pioneering book opens a new spiritual zone for our serious attention!

Cornel West

In Bipolar Faith, Dr. Coleman offers a brilliantly written narrative which provides a birds-eye view of her early years marked by family strife, tragedy and loss juxtaposed with the joys of childhood summers spent immersed in a segregated black community in Washington, DC. She ushers us gently into her world in which, over time, through Ivy League baccalaureate study and pursuit of ministerial professionalism and spiritual scholarship, she comes to terms with a family history of mental health challenges and substance use disorder, her own traumatic experiences and a diagnosis of mental illness which finally explains her episodic changes in mood, outlook and activity level. The reader will admire Dr. Colemans strong faith through it all, her existential questioning and the fact that she has emerged whole from introspective exploration, loving herself as is.

Annelle Primm
Senior Psychiatrist Advisor for Urban
Behavioral Associates
and Former Deputy Medical Director of the American Psychiatric Association

Im very excited about Rev. Dr. Monica A. Colemans new book, Bipolar Faith. The churchand broader soci-etymust do a much better job engaging issues of mental health, and Dr. Colemans powerful story sets us on the right path. This will be a helpful resource for pastors and congregants across the country.

Joshua DuBois
Author of The Presidents Devotional: The Readings that Inspired President Obama

In her memoir, Bipolar Faith, Reverend Dr. Monica A. Coleman courageously shares the story of her own personal and private life struggles with God, death, loneliness, love, rape and a family history of mental illness. Once a taboo topic, Dr. Colemans revelation of the need for a middle place to balance the public demands of life and the private pain and isolation of depression helps the church begin the conversation about relevant ministries to meet the needs of our congregants who often find themselves in the dark place of mental illness. Our spiritual journey takes us through light and darkness. This book may help an individual or a congregation to honestly pull back the cover of secrecy to develop resources for hurting people and families. Bipolar Faithshines a light in those seemingly empty periods of darkness.

Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie
117th Elected Bishop, African Methodist Episcopal Church
Author of Not Without a Struggle, Journey to the Well,
Strength in the Struggle, and Swapping Housewives

In America, in Black America, we do not like to talk about pain, about trauma, about grief, about sadness, about de-pression. We work hard, we live, we survive, we pass the scars of emotional wars from one generation to another like a birthright, like a family heirloom. Monica A. Colemans story is our story, her family is your family, and mine too. Bipolar Faith is one Black womans journey through depression and faith, yes. But it is also the saga of an indi-vidual, a family, and a community that needs to confront itself, once and for all, so there is actual healing and redemption in a way that truly liberates. Brilliant and fearless with her writing and with her voice, Monica Colemans freedom train is one we all need to board.

Keven Powell
Author of The Education of Kevin Powell: A Boys
Journey into Manhood

Monica A. Coleman writes with the artistry of a poetic storyteller, the intimacy of someone who has studied depression from the inside, and the courageous trans-parency of someone who knows the cost of silence. Weaving cultural truths with the reality of hope and despair, Colemans latest book is a testimony that unmasks psychological struggles, family discord, and the quest for wholeness. As a scholar and minister, Coleman has crafted a book that creates a safe space for people of faith to reflect on their journey toward truth, balance, and self-acceptance.

Thema Bryant-Davis
Past President, Society for the Psychology of Women
Co-Editor of Womanist and Mujerista Psychologies: Voices of Fire, Acts of Courage

Bipolar Faith is an insightful work on an important and neglected topic. The writing is terrific, it pulls you along like a runaway train and is full of poetic lines that speak to the ineffable human experience of suffering and hope.

Jennifer Michael Hecht
Author of Doubt: A History

Bipolar Faith is a beautifully written, brutally honest memoir of survival. With grit and courage, Dr. Monica A. Coleman shares her story of mental illness and abuse and her journey to wholeness. Guided by faith, Coleman never sidesteps the pain and hurt as she confronts her private demons head on, ending in triumph, recovery and healing.

Linda Villarosa,
Author of Body & Soul: The Black Womens Guide to Physical Health and Emotional Well-being

To everyone who is looking for the words to describe what defies language,
my brothers and sisters who know these experiences all too well,
this book is for you

To my family by birth and by choice

To God be the glory