After Bipolar Diagnosis, French Became Her ‘Asylum From The Madness’
Soon after she started her sophomore year of high school, Abby Garver was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
“It was just like everything kind of went to hell all at once,” Garver said.
She started taking several medications, stopped sleeping regularly and fell behind in school.
One thing that helped her through it all was French. Garver had taken a few classes in high school and liked it.
“Some of it was just, it gave me that feedback I wanted, some positive feedback of being good, and that mattered,” Garver said.
But she found it also helped slow down her racing thoughts.
“For whatever reason, it was like thinking and expressing myself in French were different.”
She continued to study the language at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
College was not easy. Garver initially took one or two classes per semester and at one point withdrew due to stress. But she excelled in her French courses and was named one of the department’s most outstanding students.
Earlier this year, Garver used the language to document her story. She wrote about being diagnosed with bipolar disorder and finding solace in French. The essay, titled “Mon Asile De La Folie” (“My Asylum From The Madness”) placed third in a national competition and will soon be published by the American Journal of French Studies.
Charly Verstraet, one of Garver’s professors at UAB, said her journey speaks to the power of language.
“It is one of these moments where what we studied in class and the language meaning something sort of transcended the classroom, and transcended the reason why we learn,” he said.
In recent years, Garver has started seeing a new psychiatrist. She’s relying less on medication and more on behavior therapy, a combination she said works better for her. After more than 10 years, she graduated this summer with a double major in French and Spanish.
** UAB holds WBHM’s broadcasting license, but our news and business departments operate separately.
Did Amazon trick people into paying for Prime? Federal case goes to trial
The U.S. government says Amazon manipulated people into signing up for Prime memberships that were purposefully hard to cancel. The company says its designs and disclosures follow industry standards.
Georgia senators demand answers on more than a dozen deaths in immigration detention
Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock are asking Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for answers after more than a dozen people died in immigration detention, as the department rushes to expand.
5 takeaways from Kamala Harris’ new book about her sprint for the presidency
Former Vice President Kamala Harris writes about her brief run for the presidency last year and her relationship with former President Joe Biden in her new book, out on Tuesday.
How to reintegrate over a million veterans? Groups in Ukraine are working on it
Many Ukrainian war veterans have physical and mental trauma, and struggle to return to civilian life. Here is a look at some groups trying to help ease them back into the community.
Judge orders Trump administration to restore $500 million in grant funding to UCLA
A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to restore $500 million in federal grant funding that it froze at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Bruce Pearl, winningest men’s basketball coach in Auburn history, announces retirement
Auburn coach Bruce Pearl announced his retirement Monday less than six months after finishing the Tigers' best season in program history with another trip to the Final Four. Pearl's 38-year-old son Steven Pearl, who has been on his father's coaching staff for all 11 seasons at Auburn, will take over as coach.