A Promise of Hope

Some children inherit the family nose. Autumn Stringam and her brother Joseph inherited bipolar disorder, a severe mental illness that led to the suicides of their mother and grandfather. Autumn, at 22, was psychotic and in a psychiatric hospital on suicide watch; Joseph, at 15, was prone to violent episodes so terrifying the family feared for their lives. But after they began taking a nutritional supplement developed by their father-and based, incredibly, on a formula given to aggressive hogs-Autumn's and Joseph's symptoms disappeared. Today they both lead normal, productive lives. A Promise of Hope chronicles Autumn Stringam's personal flight from madness to wellness and also provides an astonishing scientific account of an innovative treatment that moves from a kitchen table in Alberta to the offices of a distinguished Harvard psychiatrist and into the labs of a skeptical medical establishment. Now updated with the groundbreaking results of a clinical trial and with additional content from the perspective of Autumn's family, A Promise of Hope is a powerful call for a new understanding of the mental illness that affects thousands of Canadians.