Closing the Chasm

About the Book

Benjamin Diven was a teenager when he suffered his first bipolar episode, but it would be many years before he was diagnosed with the mental illness. Diven’s mood swings didn’t stop him from building a thriving medical practice with many patients, but it was his eldest son, Matt, who bore the brunt of the disease. In this candid biography, he addresses his son in a series of intimate letters, explaining his peculiar moods. He looks back at the first time he experienced a “wall-banging depression” as a junior at Las Cruces High School when he was sixteen. “At the time, 1970, I was a thoroughly disinterested honors student,” he writes. “I had grown my hair long and protested the Vietnam War. I smoked dope whenever I could get it, which was often, and enjoyed rock-and-roll music and girls. I didn’t give a damn about much else.” Sometimes comical and often serious, anyone who has suffered from or watched a loved one deal with mental illness will gain a new perspective by joining Diven on a thrilling journey of highs and lows in Closing the Chasm.

About the Author

Benjamin Diven, M.D. is a physician practicing and teaching in New Mexico. Trained in family and emergency medicine, he has worked in a variety of specialized areas of medicine for more than twenty-five years. He has been married thirty-one years to his remarkable wife, Elinor. They have three grown children.