Nell Casey

Nell Casey, editor of Unholy Ghost, was only 16 years old when her sister Maud was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Eleven years later, Maud stopped taking her medication and, after a brief hospitalization for mania, fell into a four-month depressive episode. For this period of time, Nell and her mother became Maud's primary caregivers. Nell threw her energy into responding to hospital crises, taking care of Maud's job and apartment, and helping Maud through the trials of finding the medications that worked for her. Eventually Maud recovered. Even after Maud stabilized, however, Nell experienced an aftermath of anxiety, extreme hypochondria, weight loss, and headaches for several months. Nell describes the difficulties and emotions of caregiving, along with the incredible triumph of her sister's recovery.

What was your sister's experience with bipolar disorder?
The first time Maud experienced depression, she was 18 years old and in her first year of college. She ended up in the nurse's office after someone on her dorm floor called to say she wasn't coming out of her room. She was delusional and had lost touch with reality. My parents had to bring her home and she was hospitalized for about a month. My parents were really involved, although I did visit her in the hospital. I was only 16 years old, so it all seemed incredibly foreign to me. Maud responded quickly to lithium. She regained her composure and became very driven to get back to college. She only ended up taking a semester off from college. It seemed to be a very quick recovery.

When Maud was 29, she went off lithium under the supervision of her therapist, but without telling anyone in the family. She felt that the medication was a decision that my parents had made for her. I saw Maud before I knew she went off the medication and she seemed agitated. Finally, Maud signed herself into the hospital, and then called the family. That was when we found out she had gone off the medication.

Initially Maud was in control enough to realize that she had to go into a hospital and get on medication. But, then the mania got worse and she was in the hospital for six weeks.

When Maud was able to get out of the hospital, she moved back with my mother to Illinois for about month. Then, just as she was incredibly driven to get back to school the first time, she was driven to get back to New York. She wanted to get back to her life.

When she came back to New York, she still seemed really frail and I was uncertain as to how well she was doing. She was living alone in her apartment. Then, she slipped into a very deep depression that no one had predicted. She had a four to five month period of depression. So the whole episode was about six months, but even after that it was such a long process to pull everything back together.

Incredibly, a year later, Maud had recovered. She sold her novel, and had a fully high functioning life. She had a boyfriend and a good job. In putting together the book, Unholy Ghost, I've realized how lucky we are. Maud found medications that really work. We are so happy that Maud is doing so well now. She's been very strong.

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