Robin Williams: In Truth, We Will Never Know
I have been off the grid for most of the last two weeks, and thus missed the media commentary into the suicide of Robin Williams. I hesitate to add my own voice. Like you, I feel a deep sense of grief and loss. This was a giant of a man who has been a close part of my life for four decades.
A personality as unique and outsized as Robin Williams defies classification. To analyze him or fit him into categories is to diminish him, to... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - August 17, 2014 Category: Mental Illness Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
RIP Robin Williams: The Day the Laughter Died
Real quick: I emerged from four days off the grid in the Oregon woods to discover that comedian Robin Williams was found dead from an apparent suicide.
Here is a snippet from a piece I wrote many years back: "You know you have bipolar, the joke goes, if you think Robin Williams is too laid back. "Manic" is the term most often used to describe his rapid-fire free-associating improvisational delivery. Conversely, simply saying his name is... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - August 12, 2014 Category: Mental Illness Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
The Bipolar's Dilemma
I'm typing this with one finger on my iPad. If I cut this piece short, I hope you will forgive me.
I am in a hotel room on the Oregon coast about to go off the grid for a few days to attend a didgeridoo festival. I have been to two, but this year, faced with the prospect of driving about 1,200 miles each way by myself, I almost stayed home. My online ride-share feelers came up empty. My illness, coupled with my issues around driving, made... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - August 7, 2014 Category: Mental Illness Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
A Bipolar Look at Buddhism: It's Mainstream, It's Practical, and It May Save Your Life
Yesterday, with a friend, I showed up at a Buddhist meditation group. This was the first such meeting I have attended in decades. I don’t engage in any regular Buddhist practice and I’m very much a failed meditator. Yet, I felt right at home.
What gives?
The short answer is a lot of the lessons I learned from way back have stuck and become a part of me. Later, after I was diagnosed, I applied these lessons as part... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - August 4, 2014 Category: Mental Illness Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
A Bipolar Look at Buddhism: It's Mainstream, It's Practical, and It May Save Your Life - See more at
Yesterday, with a friend, I showed up at a Buddhist meditation group. This was the first such meeting I have attended in decades. I don’t engage in any regular Buddhist practice and I’m very much a failed meditator. Yet, I felt right at home.
What gives?
The short answer is a lot of the lessons I learned from way back have stuck and become a part of me. Later, after I was diagnosed, I applied these lessons as part of my... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - August 4, 2014 Category: Mental Illness Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
Bipolar Relationships: Reassuring Your "Normal" Partner
Last week, we looked at bipolar relationships from what you need to do to when your partner is feeling depressed or manicky. This typically involves meeting your loved one on his or her own terms, however irrational their thinking and behavior may appear to you.
This means suspending judgment, listening, and validating both the person’s feelings and how they are perceiving reality. The overriding concern is to make your partner... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - August 2, 2014 Category: Mental Illness Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
Taking a News Holiday: Your Mental Health May Depend On It
You may have noticed that the current news is not exactly giving you reasons to feel good. Quite the opposite, in fact. Basically, the news is to depression what pollen is to asthma and living next to a swamp is to malaria. If you are over-exposed, you are going to suffer.
So right now might be a good time to take a news holiday.
First, let’s take a look at how our brains process information ...
Going back to... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - July 31, 2014 Category: Mental Illness Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
Which Antidepressant is Right for You? Short Answer: It's Still a Crap-Shoot
There are more than two dozen FDA-approved antidepressants out there. How can you determine which one is the best for you? This is the question posed by Steve Blatt MD in an article in Psychiatric Times, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.
Dr Blatt’s short answer: We have no idea. Finding the right antidepressant is a crap-shoot.
His long answer has to do with the fact that untold clinical efficacy... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - July 28, 2014 Category: Mental Illness Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
Wonder in Our Lives: Night Sky Ruminations
This is a quick post about wonder. Let’s start when we were kids. Remember looking up at the stars at night? That’s the type of wonder we’re talking about. The wonder of a child, boundless, limitless, as deep and wide as space itself.
When was the last time you experienced that? For that matter, when was the last time you gazed up at the sky - and just gazed?
Last weekend, I got the opportunity. A good friend had... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - July 28, 2014 Category: Mental Illness Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
Helping Your Bipolar Loved One: It All Begins in His or Her Reality
A few weeks ago, I asked you to consider five hypothetical situations regarding relationships. Let’s review the first two.
Hypothetical #1
Your loved one tells you the situation is hopeless. Life sucks. She is about to lose her job and become homeless and she doesn’t want to be a burden on you anymore.
How do you respond?
I’m sure you know that “snap out of it” is simply not going to cut... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - July 27, 2014 Category: Mental Illness Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
Peak Experiences: They Come to You, But You Have to be There
Yesterday, I had one of those peak experiences, you know, an Abraham Maslow special - transcendent, ecstatic, a sense of harmony with everything in the universe - and no, it wasn't mania.
This involved bringing my didgeridoo to a drum circle. You may recall, something similar happened to me about two months ago. (Check it out here.) Said Oscar Wilde:
We can have in life but one great experience at best, and the secret of life... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - July 21, 2014 Category: Mental Illness Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
Nullius in Verba: Your Key Cognitive Tool to Healthy Living
This piece has to do with critical thinking. Think of critical thinking as our built-in bullsh*t meter. Without it, we are prisoners of our own prejudices and emotions and are at the mercy of those who pander to them.
Consider these fairly recent headlines:
The Drugging of the American Boy (This appeared as a feature article in Esquire magazine.)
Ketamine Miracle Cure for Depression
NRA chief Wayne LaPierre wants 'broken'... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - July 19, 2014 Category: Mental Illness Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
What Disney Princesses Can Teach Us: Seriously, Hear Me Out
Maybe you’ve noticed your friends on Facebook posting these cryptic messages: “I’m Dumbledore” or “I’m Scarlett O’Hara” or the like.
On further reading, we discover that your friend has taken some kind of online quiz asking him or her to identify with a character in a particular movie or work of literature.
Okay, let’s cut through the confusion: Whoever the outsider character... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - July 15, 2014 Category: Mental Illness Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
RIP Diagnostic Psychiaty: My Take on an Edge Question
Several months ago, I began doing pieces based on Edge questions. Edge, which bills itself as an online salon, annually asks a provocative question of leading scientists and writers and the like. The answers are published as a series of books.
You can find my three previous bipolar takes to the following questions by clicking the links below:
What Have You Changed Your Mind About? Why?
What Scientific Concept... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - July 13, 2014 Category: Mental Illness Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
Live Bold/Live Now: Six Guidelines "Successful" Patients with Chronic Conditions Live By
Real quick ...
I’ve just finished perusing the entries in HealthCentral’s Live Bold/Live Now event. Each entry offers a snapshot (literally) into the life of someone contending with a debilitating condition. We have a photo. We have a caption.
We have a broad spectrum across conditions we are all aware of: Diabetes, cancer, HIV, depression, bipolar, MS, arthritis, chronic pain, and so on. We also have conditions you... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - July 7, 2014 Category: Mental Illness Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
