We are talking with local and national experts on moods and mood disorders.
This page will function as a directory of those interviews.
Our goal is to identify people with new ideas, maybe even controversial ones, and bring these ideas to our readers.
We are very interested in your ideas for topics or people we should talk to. Send me an email with your thoughts – peter@moodsurfing.com.
People
March 2013: Descartes Li, MD
Director of the University of California, San Francisco Bipolar Program, Clinical Professor, UCSF. Dr. Descartes talks about his clinical experience treating people with depression and bipolar.
April 2013: Cannon Thomas, PhD talks about Communication
Dr. Thomas is an expert on communication and Assistant Clinical Professor at University of California, San Francisco. He talks about effective strategies for communication for people with mood disorders.
June 2013: Mary Talks about a Partial Hospital Program
Mary is someone wrestling with the challenges of bipolar who recently came through a frightening period of crisis thanks, in part, to her experiences in a Partial Hospital Program.
July 2013 and August 2013: Matt Tierney Talks about Substance Use
Matt is very interested in how to help people with substance use to find a way of reducing or avoiding harmful use. In general, he is interested in the idea of Motivational Interviewing as a way to encourage positive change in people’s lives.
September 2013: Janelle Caponigro and Erica Lee Talk about Tools for Supporting Positive Emotion
Janelle and Erica have developed a group intervention for people with Bipolar Disorder that is focused on tools for encouraging healthy positive emotion.
February 2014: Julio Ozores Talks About Evolutionary “Reasons” for Depression
Dr. Ozores has been studying the theory of evolutionary psychology and applying those concepts to an understanding of the basis for depression in animals and humans.
July 2014: Bob Talks About Mindfulness Practice and Bipolar
Bob talks about his experiences with mindfulness practice and how it has helped him live well with bipolar.
February 2015: Kathy Leichter Talks About “Here One Day”
Kathy Leichter talks about her remarkable film, “Here One Day,” an exploration of the life story of her bipolar mother, its tragic ending but also the relationship between her bipolar and her personality, creativity and spirit.
January 2016: Sheri Johnson Talks About Mania
Dr. Sheri Johnson, the Director of the CalMania (CalM) Project at the University of California, Berkeley talks about the relationship between mania, creativity and Reward Sensitivity. The idea that people with bipolar are perhaps more motivated by reward than others and this may explain both the positive and negative aspects of hypomania and mania.
March 2020: Elle B. Talks About Marijuana Anonymus (MA)
Elle was struggling with bipolar and addiction and she was able to find a supportive community and long-term guidance through Marijuana Anonymous (MA), and she encourages others to consider taking a chance on 12-step programs.
Upcoming
We will be interviewing Dr. Suzanne A. Black, a clinical psychologist with a practice in New York and Paris, who specializes in working with bipolar patients.
We are also currently looking for suggestions for upcoming Conversations. Please email me with your thoughts (peter@moodsurfing.com).