The Integrity Cure: Stories of a Bipolar Half-Life
About this audiobook
What if honesty is all it takes to set you free?
Inspired by the illumination of Bipolar Type II diagnosis at age 46, and the subsequent process of healing, Donelle McKinley’s memoir offers hope of clinical recovery from ‘incurable’ illness and lights the way for others.
In deft literary style, The Integrity Cure provides insights into a relatively common mental illness that flies under the radar of general awareness. It shares the personal experience of an unorthodox approach to therapy, which ultimately burrowed beneath bipolar as a symptom to expose and cure the root cause of suffering.
Across 30 stories that illustrate a pattern of flight and fresh starts, the author examines the role of home, place, cultural heritage and the arts in her efforts to hold fast to her foundations.
Capturing poignant moments of her life and travels, from Stratford-upon-Avon to the Shanghai Bund, from the heart of Turkey to earthquaked New Zealand and the ivory towers of Oxford, riding a rollercoaster of hypomania and depression to diagnosis and beyond, her memoir celebrates the power of the humanities to enrich our life and understand its complexity.
With different approaches to storytelling subtly applied to serve dissociation, reinvention, and reflection, stories explore themes of vocation, love, spirituality, integrity, and freedom.
Poetic, uplifting, and unflinchingly honest, The Integrity Cure honours the precious, the painful, and the extraordinary in half a life lived bipolar.
PRAISE FOR THE INTEGRITY CURE
'A radiant, razor-sharp tour de force, The Integrity Cure is a remarkable memoir and a standout in mental health literature. Elegantly crafted for effortless reading, and grounded by a powerful, singular voice, it moves seamlessly between the quotidian and the sublime. Sharing fearless self-examination and poetic insight, the author offers deep companionship to all who struggle with mental illness, and lights a transformative path that serves as a mental health game changer and gateway to an exciting future. The Integrity Cure gives readers hope that by revealing and embracing their authentic self through honesty, they can find their way to wholeness and freedom.' - Dyane Harwood, author of Birth of a New Brain
'Bold, experimental, brilliant' - Dorothy Herson, author of The Rag Doll Contract
'Beautiful prose taking you on the journey of real human suffering and recovery' - Daniel Munro, author of The Naked Truth
*** LONGLISTED for the 2025 Katherine Mansfield Competition ***
About the author
Donelle McKinley is a writer, editor and publisher working internationally. Beyond publishing, she has worked in the digital space for the love of cultural heritage, the arts, and higher education. Donelle holds qualifications in English Literature, Art History, Information Studies, and Publishing, and studied Book History at New College, University of Oxford. She is author of The Integrity Cure (Thorndon Press, 2025), a contributor to the anthology Otherhood: Essays on being childless, childfree and child-adjacent (Massey University Press, 2024), and was longlisted for the 2025 Katherine Mansfield competition.
