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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 19, 2020)
6 Wednesday, August 19, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon Local author takes readers beyond depression By T. Lee Brown Correspondent Feeling blue? Ever feel like the blues won9t lift? You9re not alone. Millions of Americans live with depres- sion. What might come as a surprise: about half of those diagnosed with depression are eventually re-diagnosed with bipolar disorder. That9s according to local author and Episcopal priest Willa Goodfellow. Her book <Prozac Monologues: A Voice from the Edge= launches on August 28 with a virtual Paulina Springs Books event also featuring Marean Jordan. <Half. A fifty percent grade? When I went to school that was way failing,= she told The Nugget. <They just don9t do a very good job of diag- nosing bipolar until it is late- stage.= She hopes her book will help change that. With a bachelor9s degree from Reed College, a mas- ters from Yale, and over three decades working as a minis- ter, Goodfellow is bright and personable. Yet depression made her <non-functional= on and off throughout her life. When she was 52 years old, it came on strong. Her primary physician diag- nosed her with depression; Goodfellow tried the herb St. John9s Wort and made life- style changes. Eventually the doctor <brought out the big guns= and prescribed Prozac. Usually easygoing, Goodfellow found herself highly irritable. <I was really on edge,= she said. <I couldn9t concen- trate, I had real trouble sleep- ing, and things kind of went downhill from there.= Some imagine that people with bipolar disorder (also known as manic-depressive illness) experience blissfully happy moods and low, sad ones. Goodfellow character- ized the up phase as being more about energy than mood. <Depression is really about mood, low mood,= she said. High energy <might be either a good mood or a bad mood. And that high energy is called either mania or hypomania.= <Mania gets you into trouble,= Goodfellow elabo- rated. She cited spending sprees, blowing up at people, and risky behavior as typical examples. <Things that get you divorced, bankrupt, fired, arrested, and hospitalized.= She experiences the less intense version, called hypomania. <It9s just ratcheted down a little,= she explained. Both are accompanied by a feeling of pressure, <when you can9t stop talking, you can9t stop thinking, you just can9t stop.= Creativity is often associated with bipolar dis- order; this may be related to a symptom called <flight of ideas.= (See story, page 7.) Goodfellow described her mental processes as <con- necting all the dots that are out there.= Her book9s mono- logues, written during a trip to Costa Rica after Prozac sent her into hypomania, offer a sample of the style: associa- tive, humorous, and all over the map. <It9s really important to me to use humor, so that we can tolerate looking at what oth- erwise would be intolerable,= Goodfellow said. <It puts a frame around an experience and allows you to distance yourself from it.= She finds humor in the Bible and uses it in sermons. <Prozac Monologues= intersperses Goodfellow9s hypomanic Costa Rica mem- oirs with useful information and measured thinking about mental health. The book9s dedication reads, <I wrote this for you.= Goodfellow explained that this includes doctors, to encourage them to become better at diagnosing patients. <I wrote it for friends and family, to help them under- stand what9s going on. And I wrote it for people who are suffering and can9t figure out why.= <Some of it was really addressed specifically, like, 8Now I9m talking to you, the one in the pajamas9 4people who have depression that is not getting better,= she said. Goodfellow grew up in Colorado. The state of Iowa was her home for 32 years, but it was time to move on. Visiting her wife9s sister in Sisters, Goodfellow felt better here. <The mountains were in the right space, the pine was just fabulous to smell, and this little town& it was just idyllic,= Goodfellow said. <We live on this street called Songbird! It9s like a scene out of The Truman Show.= Working life can be diffi- cult for bipolar people. <I can get overwhelmed,= Goodfellow acknowledged. She works with a small congregation in Prineville, but phased herself out of preach- ing to focus on the book. PHOTO BY TL BROWN Sisters author Willa Goodfellow shows off an advanced reader’s edition of her book Prozac Monologues, launching August 28 with a virtual event hosted by Paulina Springs Books. As a minister, she has pro- vided support and deep listen- ing to others. <People9s needs are so immense, and they9re in so many different kinds of pain,= she said. <The whole COVID thing 4 taking a pill isn9t going to fix how you feel about the fact that you can9t make rent.= Sometimes people need medication, she said, but sometimes they need a pair of ears. Dedication and passion are central to her mission. <This diagnosis issue is a matter of life and death,= she said, citing two memoirs writ- ten by people whose loved ones were misdiagnosed. Both patients ended up committing suicide, leaving parents and partners to tell the tale. <That9s real!= Goodfellow said. <And it could have been me. By the grace of God it was not.= Register for the Oregon book launch party at https:// tinyurl.com/willa-good fellow-launch. To join the author9s mailing list, see www.willagoodfellow.com. THE GARDEN ANGEL Organic landscaping... We fee d the soil! Have a great summ er, Sisters! 23 years in business • LCB#9583 541-549-2882