The Texas woman’s husband suffered from the mania until his suicide, and now she has written a book to help loved ones cope

Judy Eron wants to help people survive the ups of mental illness, as well as the downs.

Eron’s late husband, Jim, had bipolar disorder, a mental illness characterized by periods of elevated mood (mania) and depression. She says mania has received much less attention than depression, although both phases of bipolar disorder create serious problems for family members and friends of the person who is ill.

Eron will talk about her experiences with her husband’s manic behavior at 10 a.m. Saturday in Medford, when the Southern Oregon chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill meets at the Smullin Center on the campus of Rogue Valley Medical Center.

A resident of Texas, she’s touring the Northwest this summer to talk with mental health support groups and to promote her new book, "What Goes Up: Surviving the Manic Episode of a Loved One" ($14.95, Barricade Books).

Eron (pronounced EE-ron) described the book as both a memoir and a self-help guide for people who know someone with bipolar disorder, formerly known as manic-depressive disorder.

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"My book is something to accompany people through the difficult time of hanging in with someone (who is mentally ill) while you’re trying to love them and protect them."

She said her training as a licensed clinical social worker left her ill-prepared for the problems that surfaced when her husband of nine years stopped taking the drugs that had kept his disorder under control for years.

"He felt like he was on top of everything," Eron said during a telephone interview from Washington state, "but he wasn’t."

The book describes his transformation during a year-long manic phase from a kind and sensitive psychologist to a fierce, self-centered man with an inflated ego who drove 60,000 miles in seven months.

After a manic phase that lasted more than a year, he sank into a depression that ended in suicide.

Eron said there are ways people can try to help loved ones steer around some of the impulsive behavior that often characterizes manic behavior, such as spending recklessly and engaging in risky relationships.

She recommends, for example, that people who are diagnosed with bipolar disorder have both a personal psychiatrist and a counselor. People with professional training are better qualified than family members to judge when mental illness clouds someone’s judgment.

Decisions about psychiatric drugs can be crucial, she said. Medication should never be stopped the way her husband did — all at once and without a physician’s care.

Eron said it’s also important for anyone who lives with a person who has bipolar disorder to understand that a day may come when the illness makes that person unrecognizable. Making an agreement in advance about what will happen (such as whether a couple will separate) if that day comes makes things easier for everyone should it occur.

She and her husband had no such agreement, so when he became ill, she didn’t know exactly what to do, and neither did members of her husband’s family

"I lost my own good judgment," she said.

Reach reporter Bill Kettler at 776-4492, or e-mail bkettler@mailtribune.com.

Eron speaks at 10 a.m. Saturday

NAMI is a support group for people who are struggling with mental illness, as well as their families and friends.

Her presentation at Rogue Valley Medical Center’s Smullin Center, 2825 E. Barnett Road, is open to the public, and there is no admission charge. Reservations are not required.

After her presentation, Eron will lead a question-and-answer session.

There will be an ice-cream social after the program.