Episodes

The True Story of Two Friends & One Diagnosis

By: Mara Altman, Kat Alexander

Narrated by: Mara Altman, Kat Alexander

In Episodes, lifelong best friends Kat and Mara take listeners on an unfiltered journey through friendship, mental illness, and survival. Kat, a successful professional, is preparing for marriage and motherhood. On her fourth round of IVF, it happened—a frantic call to Mara. Mara comes over to find Kat, her friend of 25 years—the one who'd always been levelheaded, hilarious, and over-the-top thoughtful—trying to jump through a window.

The unexpected Bipolar diagnosis sends Kat’s life into a tailspin, leading to frantic 9-1-1 calls, cycling in and out of hospitals, crashed cars, emptied bank accounts, and, eventually, a desperate search and rescue mission in Mexico, where Kat goes missing.

Told through their own voices, Episodes captures the profound intimacy and tension of a friendship tested by crisis. Using real-time audio to immerse listeners in their heart-wrenching saga, Episodes takes us deep into the taboo of losing one's mind and raises universal questions about the boundaries of friendship. In spite of the chaos, Kat and Mara are here to tell their story, together—a testament that not only is healing possible, but that it’s not meant to be done alone.

©2024 Mara Altman and Kat Alexander (P)2024 Audible Originals, LLC.

Brutally honesty and refreshingly written. Loved it.

The honesty of Kat in the middle of her episode/disgnosis. She wrote her truth. Mara and Kat are just who you think they are base on the book’s character development. The audible version ends with them talking after the book was released and I felt like I knew them.

Just listen!

Wow!! So very well written and executed! This book made me laugh, gasp, cry, get angry, shake my head and sigh. What an exhausting journey for both of these women. They are so lucky to have one another. This is great listen and worth every minute of your time!

Resplendent. ✨⭐️🌟💫✨💛

I have only used this word one other time in my life. But after listening to your whole story, without taking a break, beginning to end, your last words combined with my tears, this was the word that came up from my heart. You two are resplendent.
I can easily say that this was the most amazing thing I have ever listened to.

I understand and relate to everything that you have shared. More than I’d like to say. I share the same diagnosis, only I have the sister- bipolar 2. Deep, unrelenting severe depression. My suicide attempts started when I was 12. I am now 60 and The constant desire to be gone. To never have existed. To not take up space still cloaks me in its veil.
All I want, all I’ve ever wanted is to be able to breathe. to be safe. to be enough. as I am. Also, I dream of being happy. Some day. Maybe someday.
I am so blown away by your friendship, commitment and loyalty to each other. it is so beautiful and so rare in this land of mental illness where friends are lost, family is distant, and the truth is rarely spoken.
I think it was Ernest Hemingway who said The world breaks everyone and afterwards many are strong at the broken places. That is you two.
I have 8 billion other words in my head that I would like to write about everything that you said. How it moved me, how it’s changed me, how it has inspired me.
how it has given me hope.

Thank you so much for having the courage to write your story. To perform it. You did a beautiful job.

You are resplendent 💛

Empathy!

2 amazing women with an incredible bond. Empathy saved a life and strengthened a friendship.Unfortunately our healthcare systems has lost empathy

I didn’t know I needed to hear this

Wow. Can that be the review? Just wow!! Every moment of the story was so much wow! Thank you for sharing!

All the feels!

This story on mental illness and an incredible friendship takes you on a wild ride full of twists and turns, pain and growth. I couldn’t stop listening, the story going back and forth between Kat’s world and Mara’s reality added so much suspense. The real life audio clips provided a raw glimpse into Kat’s mind at the time, and I appreciated the humor sprinkled in throughout.

A “must read”

This is a brutally honest look at mental health and how to look past the stigmas and have empathy for those you don’t understand. These lessons really go beyond mental health and into the realm of seeing people as human beings deserving of love. ♥️♥️♥️

Riveting!

This story was powerful. Whoa!

It’s hard to see a person who is mentally ill on the street now and not have empathy, to not wonder about their story.

The dual narration is the right way to tell this story and it was incredible to get such a deep view into what someone in the middle of a manic episode is actually thinking, and how it follows its own logic.

The story is also interspersed with actual recorded audio from the events - intense.

Touching, nail biting and heart warming

This is friendship. I was so touched by Mara’s dedication to Kat. What an incredible story that illuminates the struggles of those dealing with bipolar disorder. Highly recommend.

Excellent

I bought this just by chance and was pleasantly surprised to find out that it is a great listen. The story is extremely interesting and the narrators are perfect. I recommend this book especially if you have someone in your family that suffers from mental illness or if you do. It’s eye opening!