Brittany Peckham

I grew up between Massachusetts and Connecticut, and I live on the Connecticut shoreline now. Daybreak: Finding Light After a Bipolar Storm is my first book.

It’s a memoir about living with bipolar disorder — starting at thirteen, when the first signs showed up and nobody, including me, knew what they were; through a psychotic break and a psychiatric hospitalization in adulthood; and through the long, deeply unglamorous work of putting a life back together afterward.

Why I wrote it

For most of my life I felt like I was screaming into silence. The clinical descriptions of what I was experiencing never sounded like what I was actually experiencing, so I assumed I was the problem — that whatever was happening to me was uniquely shameful, rather than a well-documented illness that millions of people live with.

What I needed, and couldn’t find, was somebody describing it from the inside. Not a symptom list. Not a recovery story with all the hard parts sanded off. Just an honest account from somebody who had been there.

I share these chapters not because I have all the answers, but because for most of my life, I felt like I was screaming into silence.

What this site is

The blog is where I write about the parts that didn’t fit in the book, or that I’m still working out. Some of it is practical — what to actually pack for a hospital stay, what helps when someone you love is in an episode. Some of it is just honest.

There’s also a page of real resources, because this site is not a substitute for care and I’d rather point you somewhere useful than pretend otherwise.

What this site isn’t

I want to be direct about this: I’m not a clinician. Nothing here is medical advice, and nothing here should replace a conversation with a psychiatrist, a therapist, or a crisis line. Bipolar disorder is a serious illness that responds to treatment, and what worked for me may be wrong for you.

What I can offer is the thing credentials can’t: I know what this feels like from the inside. That’s the whole reason I wrote the book, and it’s the only authority I claim.

Get in touch

For press, podcasts, speaking, or book club questions, see the contact page. I read everything, even when it takes me a while to answer.