One Side Inside Out

Author Elizabeth Kelly was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at the age of twenty-one, and at the beginning of her journey, she turned to writing as a form of expression, finding herself navigating through her experiences.

Now, twenty years later, Kelly returns to writing with new perspective, seeing her own transformation and growth over the years. The shadow and shame of her disorder are gone, and she has discovered a new appreciate of process, having experienced stability and worked with doctors who have made a difference in her life. Kelly’s earlier work shows where she began, while her present-day poems focus on where she is now. The difference between the two shows that through hard work and commitment to treatment, a diagnosis of a mental disorder does not have define the person who receives it. Through her verses, Kelly hopes to shine a light on mental illness in order to increase understanding and acceptance and to banish judgment.

In this collection of poetry, one woman paints a long-term portrait of mental illness through sets of poems written twenty years apart as she moved from confusion to clarity.