Happy Birthday, Charles Darwin
Today is Charles Darwin's 204th birthday. Coincidently, Darwin was born the same day, same year, as Lincoln. Check this out: "The sight of a feather in a peacock's tail, whenever I gaze at it, makes me sick!" he wrote.
If Darwin were alive today, he would probably say Fox News makes him sick, but that's another story. What was going on with Darwin was this: His work-in-progress theory of natural selection was based on... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - February 12, 2013 Category: Mental Illness Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
A Bipolar Love Story - Yes, It's Really True
Yikes! Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. This hardly ever poses a problem for me, as I tend not to have someone to celebrate it with. This year is different. Allow me to backtrack:
A day or two prior to Valentine’s Day last year, I hit it off with a very lovely didgeridoo player. Let me explain. Back in December, I had attended my first didgeridoo gathering. There she was, by the outdoor fire, merrily honking away. I... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - February 11, 2013 Category: Mental Illness Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
Meditation and the Brain - The Bipolar Question of the Week
A week or two ago, I mentioned in passing that I have been viewing TED talks on my desktop. Call me crazy - listening to highly intelligent thinkers and doers expound on cool and inspirational stuff does more for me than enduring the bitchiness of the judges on American Idol.
Yesterday, a friend sent me a link to a talk on how meditation shapes our brains. The speaker was a Harvard neuroscientist, Sara Lazar. Dr Lazar got into the topic... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - February 2, 2013 Category: Mental Illness Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
Mania vs Hypomania and the DSM - A Need for Greater Clarity
This is the fourth in our discussion of psychiatry’s diagnostic bible, the DSM. In May this year, an updated edition - the DSM-5 - will replace the current DSM-IV, which has been the last word since 1994. Last week, we had a look at bipolar depression and mixed states. This week we will look at the other end of the pole - mania and hypomania.
The DSM-5 will preserve the criteria for DSM-IV mania and hypomania just about intact,... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - February 2, 2013 Category: Mental Illness Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
Finding Out What Works Best for YOU - Not the Mythical Average Depressed Patient
Yesterday, I advanced a case for making a clear distinction between agitated and vegetative depression. In a nutshell, we are talking about too much vs too little, as in too much emotion (anger, sadness) vs too little (psychic numbness), or too much thinking (eg over-ruminating) vs too little - on and on. We have a major paradox in action here: Even though we are talking about two conditions with entirely opposite symptoms, we would acknowledge... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - January 31, 2013 Category: Mental Illness Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
Agitated vs Vegetative Depressions - Why the Distinction Is Important
Back in June 2001, I attended my first psychiatric conference - The Fourth International Conference on Bipolar Disorder. I had been writing about mood disorders for exactly two years. My lack of knowledge intimidated me. Here I was, among the top mood disorders experts in the world, pretending to be a mental health journalist..
One of the speakers, Athanasios Koukopoulos MD of the University of Rome, presented a seminar that would... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - January 31, 2013 Category: Mental Illness Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
Laughter in Your Life - The Bipolar Question of the Week
Later today I will head out the door to see the play Pygmalion, by George Bernard Shaw. Shaw is one of my favorite authors. Back in the eighties, I read just about everything he wrote, and a volume of his complete works has a place of honor on my bookshelf. Just a minute ago, I Googled “Shaw quotes.” These are too good not to share with you:
We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - January 27, 2013 Category: Mental Illness Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
Mixed Depressions and the DSM - Big Problem
This is the third in our discussion of psychiatry’s diagnostic bible, the DSM. In May this year, an updated edition - the DSM-5 - will replace the current DSM-IV, which has been the last word since 1994. How influential is the DSM? In response to last week’s piece, Psychiatric Incompetence and the DSM, Tabby, who works in a clinic, reports that the manual is regularly consulted by the therapists and psychiatrist who work there. When... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - January 27, 2013 Category: Mental Illness Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
Inspiration in Your Life - The Bipolar Question of the Week
Yesterday was Martin Luther King Day. My Facebook newsfeed was full of inspirational MLK quotes. I particularly enjoy this one: “Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.”
For good measure, along with the usual pictures of cats, was an extra helping of Einstein wisdom. (“We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - January 22, 2013 Category: Mental Illness Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
Psychiatric Incompetence and the DSM - Big Problem
Last week, in a post highly critical of the DSM-5 (due out in May) I wrote:
Basically, bipolar as we are expected to know it in 2013 (and probably for the next ten years) will remain the bipolar we knew back in 1994. This translates to doctors continuing to misdiagnose bipolar patients with unipolar depression. You’ve been through it, I’ve been through it. We get put on destabilizing antidepressants and tend to get... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - January 20, 2013 Category: Mental Illness Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
Your Life Misdiagnosed with Unipolar Depression - The Bipolar Question of the Week
Yesterday, in a post, The DSM-5 and Bipolar, I observed that the DSM-5 - due out in May this year - does not address a very critical issue in our lives, namely doctors misdiagnosing those in the bipolar spectrum with unipolar depression. Most of you know from first-hand experience what I am talking about: Our doctors take our outward depression at face value, fail to probe for signs of bipolar, diagnose us with unipolar depression, and send us... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - January 14, 2013 Category: Mental Illness Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
The DSM-5 and Bipolar - A New Series
As most of you know, in May this year, the American Psychiatric Association will publish a new edition to its psychiatric bible - the DSM. The DSM-5, which will supersede the current DSM-IV, represents the first significant update of the DSM in nearly two decades. Unfortunately, this hardly translates to better information based on what we have learned about mental illness over 20 years. Much less will the new version better assist clinicians in... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - January 14, 2013 Category: Mental Illness Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
When Flu Hits - Watching Your Mental Health
I’ve been in bed for the last seven days in an advanced state of flu-induced misery. I didn’t think this was anything worth writing about, but then today I’ve been getting confirmation that my misery has plenty of company. All over the news, I am reading reports of a major nationwide flu outbreak. I assume all of you know best how to take care of yourself. But with the added complication of our bipolar, here are a few... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - January 10, 2013 Category: Mental Illness Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
Resolutions, Algebra, and Great White Whales - New Year Ruminations
We are eight days into the New Year. Have you broken all your New Year’s resolutions yet?
I went back and read my resolutions post from last year, where I noted that “I don’t make resolutions as such” (very wise of me). Instead, I use this time of year to take stock and figure out how to apportion my limited time and energy. Two years ago, I initiated a massive reorganizing of my website. Last year, I wrote a... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - January 8, 2013 Category: Mental Illness Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
On Being Philosophical - New Year's Eve Ruminations
This is my last post of the year. It's not my fault. We've run out of days. On a positive note, I am told we will receive a new allotment very very soon, perhaps in 2013.
This is typically a time when we look back at the past year. Time magazine does its Man of the Year, everyone has a top movies list, and for the last several years we have seen the proliferation of coolest iPhone app lists. I've spent way too many years of my life... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - December 30, 2012 Category: Mental Illness Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
