Someone you love is no longer the same. They may be moody, angry at times, irrational, paranoid or they may act in ways that are harmful to themselves or to you. Trying to help loved ones deal with this situation is one of the most perplexing and difficult things that I do as a professional. The boyfriend of a young …
Friends and Purpose
Maff Potts spent his professional life working with charities for the homeless in England. But he was frustrated that all of his work did not seem to be changing outcomes for the people he was working with. The result of his reassessment is a program that focuses on addressing what Maff feels are the two psychological problems that bedevil the homeless… …
Blessings of a Bipolar Crisis
A mental health crisis, once it resolves, can leave people with a sense of overwhelming anxiety that co-workers, distant friends, family, and strangers might find out about what happened. Jayson Blair, however, never really had the opportunity to worry about that… His was an extraordinarily public mental health crisis. In an article in Bipolar Hope he talks about what happened… …
Lady Dynamite – Maria Bamford
Maria Bamford is Lady Dynamite in Netflix’s original comedy series which debuted in 2016. Maria Bamford is also a woman with bipolar moods whose comedic work often revolves around the experience of living with bipolar. In her work she talks frankly about being hospitalized, mania, depression and obsessive thoughts. I am indebted to the wonderful magazine (available in both print …
Potential Catastrophe
What to do when catastrophe seems to loom just around the corner? Many people are having trouble getting to sleep these days. They’re worried about a possible catastrophe emerging after the US Presidential Election. This seems like a good time to review what we know about situations where there is the potential for something really bad to happen but the magnitude and …
Where is the Outrage about Suicide?
Imagine a world where a silent epidemic was cutting short the lives of young, otherwise healthy people. Imagine that, that deaths in this epidemic were rapidly increasing, while deaths from cancer, heart disease, HIV, and stroke were decreasing. Now imagine that there was no public outrage, not even any clear recognition in the media of what was happening. And imagine that …
Bipolar IN Order
Free Eight Steps To Bipolar IN Order Video Course Tom Wootton posted an announcement that should be of interest to many people who are seeking to live creatively with moods. His new Free Eight Steps To Bipolar IN Order video course is available for you to take right away. Tom’s courses have helped thousands to live better and more fulfilling lives. https://www.bipolaradvantage.com/lp/bipolar-order-video-course/
Fall Preparation
Northern Hemisphere Fall Preparation If you live in the northern hemisphere, and particularly if you live in the United States, this is an appropriate time to prepare for the coming fall and winter seasons. The yellow school buses trundling through the streets taking kids to school, the commute has once again jumped up by a factor of two in the Bay Area, …
Supplements – Use Caution
We are once again reminded that it’s important to be cautious when using supplements since they are essentially unregulated in this country. There is only one company that does independent testing and we strongly encourage people who are using supplements to subscribe to Consumer Lab. In an article from Consumer Reports about “Supplement Seals” (July 28, 2016) a comparison chart …
Living Alone and Depression
“I just really want to live in my own home with my own garden and without having to deal with all of those jerks.” A young woman living with several roommates told me that she was thinking of moving to a house in the country. The idea seemed very appealing to both of us, since we know how many hassles there …
It Takes Two to Fight
“I just can’t believe what my mother told me on the phone, she said I was a bad mother, can you believe it? I wasn’t going to put up with that, believe me…” A delightful and pretty feisty mother came in the other day brimming with frustration. We spent the entire session talking about how she got derailed from a …
Surround Yourself with Happiness
We are truly blessed to have Deborahmichelle Sanders’ permission to run some abstracts from her book The Complete How to Repair Your World Toolkit. One of the ideas that she talks about in great detail is the importance of how your home is set up and decorated. Some of her ideas follow… Display as many photos of people as you …
The Complete How to Repair Your World Toolkit
A wise woman who has had more than her share of challenges and yet has overcome them with grace, intelligence and determination, Deborahmichelle Sanders, recently published a toolkit for people who are recovering from a serious mental illness. She has kindly offered to allow us to excerpt some portions of the toolkit for readers of this blog. I am so …
Instagram Photos Reveal Depression
Smartphones are collecting information about us all of the time. As we post pictures and text online what are we revealing about how we feel, our moods over time? This is a Brave New World for those who created online services that are designed to substitute for, or enhance, our everyday, in person lives. A study published in March of …
Mental Health Improves with Aging
A study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry suggests that mental health follows a very different path than physical and cognitive health in aging. Mental health in adulthood appears to progressively improve in a linear fashion from age 20 through age 100 (see figure 1 below). The findings were based on telephone interviews and in-home surveys that assessed the cognitive, …
Phosphatidylserine
Phosphatidylserine may help protect the body against stress and may improve memory and prevent Alzheimer’s dementia. For the last month I have been examining some of the literature on this topic and working with some people in my practice to see if phosphatidylserine seems to be a useful natural supplement. The research literature on phosphatidylserine is intriguing. But first a …
Predicting Depression Recurrence
For people with a history of unipolar depression (episodes in the past of clinically significant depression, but no history of periods of being energized – mania or hypomania) who are no longer experiencing a clinical depression, is it possible to predict whether they will have another episode in the near future? Noted psychiatric researchers Lewis L. Judd, MD, Pamela J. Schettler, …
Tricked by Mania – Bipolar Hope
I have been fortunate this past month to have been working at the Bipolar Clinic at UCSF. Chief of the clinic, Dr. Descartes Li, shared with us this article that is one of the best discussions about why it is that people who are clearly manic are unable to recognize the change in mood. It also has some useful suggestions …
Bay Area Groups for Bipolar
Readers of this blog who live in the Bay Area may be interested in two groups that are starting this fall. Both of them are led by excellent clinicians and should be valuable to people with bipolar. Colleague and friend Descartes Li will be leading one of them. He describes the group this way – The UCSF bipolar psychoeducational group …
Smartphone Mood Tracking Startup
One of the most powerful ways of improving the outcomes of psychiatric treatment for depression is mood tracking, but for many reasons keeping detailed and daily records of mood changes is difficult and relatively few people in treatment use this technique. We’ve written before about significant evidence that suggests that smartphones can provide data automatically that can be used to …