In the early 1990 Manhattan-based art dealer and publicist Andy Behrman was still living in the '80s: Jetsetting.

In the early 1990 Manhattan-based art dealer and publicist Andy Behrman was still living in the '80s: Jetsetting, international shopping revels and drug and sex binges were all part of a typical week. forward the social scene, the handsome, sardonic Behrman was a boldface name. Little did Behrman and his colleagues suspect that his spirited personality was the inference of manic-depressive illness.

"The sicker and sicker I got the more healthy commonalty thought I was. Because I became more creative, more productive, more efficient," Behrman describes The Advocate. "I just was totally convinced I was in repress But I wasn't."

through the course of a not many months, Behrman's life became a shambles. He hatched a scheme to forge the paintings of his bos artist-huckster Mark Kostabi, and exchange them in Germany and Japan. if it be not that Behrman was caught, convicted of fraud, and serv time. The fabulous folks in his life suddenly lay low away. It was soon confirmed that he stomached from bipolar disorder, but more than 30 medications failed to flat the jarring highs and brutal gentles In 1995, after a strict meltdown, Behrman agreed to 19 sessions of electroshock therapy.

Electroboy: A Memoir of Mania (Random House) is the clear-eyed confessional of Behrman's going down into madness and his answer It is a vivid document of the 1980 and early 1990 when gre dolled up in Armani suits and hair mousse, was celebrated as conspicuous consumption. nearest to Electroboy, the books Bright Lights, Big City and American Psycho be derived off as pallid fairy tales.

Behrman's work is sure to jar his old-fashioned circle. Kostabi, whose career in no degree rebounded from the forgery case, has already complained. if it be not that old colleagues may be principally unsettled by Behrman's sexual candor. Although living with a woman for five years, he pursu what he calls an "omnisexual" path. (Hypersexuality is a used by all trait in bipolar people.) He had numerous anonymous rencounters with men, did some hustling, and worked as a go-go dancer in a gay club

Since childhood, Behrman has not drawn distinctions in his sexuality. He was always attracted to the pair men and women. Manic-depressive illness accelerated those desires. "You have to act public on every single fantasy and cogitation that comes into your mind," he recalls today. "Everything forward the list needs to be checked opposite to even if it's having sex with this part It has to get done." Medication has bridleed the extremes of his libido. "But" he says, "it sole takes two days off of antipsychotics to answer to that place."

And the fear of slipping back into the nightmare persists: "The scary part is that I not ever really know when it's going to happen." further he has learned to recognize the warning signs: a lack of rest changes in eating habits, increased sex drive, and psychotic episodes.

Behrman plans to write a consequence on coping with manic-depressive illness. moreover he emphasizes there is no quick fix: "You're stuck with it for life."

Find more upon Andy Behrman, electroboy, and links to related Internet sites at www.advocate.com

Blotcher writes for The of the present day York Times.

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