Feeling Like You Don't Belong Here: The Bipolar Question of the Week
Actually, this is the bipolar question of the month. For a number of years, we ran a question of the week. Now is a good time to revive this feature …
The question concerns the sense of disconnect most of us tend to feel in our lives. People invariably describe this in terms of being an outsider or not fitting in or not feeling they belong on this planet. The feeling is often accompanied by an unexplained longing to find their true... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - January 29, 2016 Category: Psychiatry Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
When Resolutions Fail: What Next?
It’s the end of January. No doubt, you have given up on your New Year Resolutions. If you haven’t, in all probably, a long time ago, you gave up on making them. A year ago, I came up with a better option. I call it my counter-intuitive guide to surviving. Following is a review, with new commentary:
It’s okay to give up completely …
We all admire true grit and determination, but we also need to acknowledge... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - January 29, 2016 Category: Psychiatry Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
Relationships - The Key to Happiness: Lessons From the Longest-Running Psychiatric Study
We all know depression entirely too well. But what about happiness? What lessons can we learn to start doing the right things - or avoid doing the wrong ones? According to Robert Waldinger in a recent TED Talk:
We're constantly told to lean in to work, to push harder and achieve more. We're given the impression that these are the things that we need to go after in order to have a good life.
If this sounds like a life strategy you... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - January 29, 2016 Category: Psychiatry Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
Melancholia and Inside Out: What Two Films Can Teach Us About Depression
At their best, movies can provide insights into human nature that we can’t get out of experts or books or from talking to friends. Two fairly recent offerings turn their cinematic eye on depression, and are well worth downloading.
The first is a European art film, the second a Pixar cartoon. Let’s take a look …
Melancholia
Set to the haunting music of Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde, the film begins with... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - January 29, 2016 Category: Psychiatry Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
Did Evolution Take a Wrong Turn? Is This Why We Feel So Disconnected?
I’m hard on work on my next book in The Bipolar Expert Series. This book will focus on behavior. I just completed four draft chapters that will comprise my part one. They are not the chapters I expected to write. Let’s investigate …
Ever since I could remember, I have always felt like I was an outsider. I’ve written on this numerous times. I even joke that I wish aliens would abduct me and kindly return me to the... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - January 28, 2016 Category: Psychiatry Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
How to Deal with the Stigma of Depression
Years after my father died and some time after I was first diagnosed with bipolar, I learned from my mother that my father had secretly sought treatment for depression. Rather than risk being found out by going through his company’s health plan, he paid out of his own pocket.
This would have been back in the early sixties. If I could go back in time to ask him one question, this is what I would ask: What were you most afraid of -... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - January 21, 2016 Category: Psychiatry Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
Paranoia, Helping Your Loved One, A Word to the Young: Three Questions, Three Answers
Several days ago, I presented a webinar, The Five Faces of Normal, hosted by the International Bipolar Foundation. My talk ran 35 minutes, question time a lot longer. My audience came up with extremely intelligent (and often challenging) questions. Here are the first three, together with my replies …
How do you feel about the word, “paranoia”? Is paranoia a “state” or a... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - January 8, 2016 Category: Psychiatry Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
My Webinar Saga - What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Yesterday I presented a webinar - “The Five Faces of Normal” - hosted by the International Bipolar Foundation. Following is the short version of my saga …
It all began with last November’s publication of my book, NOT JUST UP AND DOWN: UNDERSTANDING MOOD IN BIPOLAR DISORDER. Soon after, an invitation arrived from the International Bipolar Foundation for a January 6 webinar. I said yes, then went back to my... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - January 7, 2016 Category: Psychiatry Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
Last-Minute Holiday Reminders
A final reminder about the holidays …
This can be an extremely stressful and depressing time for many of us. Hidden traps await everywhere. On one hand, we may be harboring unrealistically high expectations. On the other, we may be all too quickly cave in to despair.
If your social schedule is a busy one ...
Build in breaks and time-outs. We need to give our brains time to reset and readjust. Walking into a... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - December 23, 2015 Category: Psychiatry Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
Reflections on our Mortality: We Gain Deeper Wisdom
Warning: This post is on the dark side, and touches on sensitive issues. Please feel free to click on to my other posts.
If you’re reading this, chances are you have survived a suicidal depression. You’re never the same, after. You have looked death straight in the eye. Every day of the rest of your life is going to be profoundly different.
Our relationship with our own mortality is no longer the same. For whatever... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - December 23, 2015 Category: Psychiatry Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
Medicating Our Kids: The Agony of Making a Decision
In his June 6 Director’s Blog, Thomas Insel, head of the NIMH, reports that:
According to a CDC study cited at a recent Carter Center symposium, 10,000 toddlers may be receiving psychostimulant medication, such as Ritalin.
According to the National Center for Health Statistics, 7.5 percent of US children ages 6-17 took meds for “emotional or behavioral difficulties in 2011-2012.
The CDC reports a five-fold increase of kids on... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - September 1, 2014 Category: Mental Illness Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
Your Depression Survival Guide - Warning: Nothing is Fail-safe
A few days ago, I posted some thoughts on the suicide of Robin Williams. I did not speculate on any “what ifs.” Instead, I reflected on the intense psychic distress he had to have felt in those final hours. A pain so strong and deep that the unthinkable presented itself as the rational choice.
Many of us know exactly what that is like. The rest of us have very strong insights. Knowing what we are up against, now is a good... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - August 31, 2014 Category: Mental Illness Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
Reflecting on Robin Williams and Suicide
Robin Williams’s suicide shocked and saddened all of us. I published two posts on HealthCentral’s bipolar site, which can be found here and here.
This is a good time, writing from a depression perspective, to focus on suicide. This is an issue all of us living with depression - no exceptions - have confronted. Some of us have survived failed attempts, others have come right to the edge. Still others frequently entertain the... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - August 28, 2014 Category: Mental Illness Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
Police Violence: Half of Those Who Get Killed Have a Mental Illness
Warning: If you get upset over reports in the news media, particularly over recent events. I strongly suggest you give this post a miss. Take care of yourself, be well. We’ll catch up next time.
Trust me, I did not want to write this. I recently returned from a spiritually refreshing road trip to highly disturbing reports of the police shooting a young man to death in Ferguson, MO.
Note, I did not say, young black man. Yes,... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - August 26, 2014 Category: Mental Illness Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
More on the Bipolar's Dilemma: Taking Risks vs Playing Safe
A couple of weeks ago, in The Bipolar’s Dilemma, I posted from Oregon on a trip-in-progress that I very nearly did not embark on. Here’s the issue: Our illness has a way of imposing limits on what we can and cannot do. After trial and error, we learn to adjust and not tempt fate.
At all costs, we avoid situations that run the risk of making our lives stressful.
But I recently discovered a major catch to this. As I... (Source: John McManamy's SharePosts)
Source: John McManamy's SharePosts - August 23, 2014 Category: Mental Illness Authors: John McManamy Source Type: blogs
