bipolar disorder

Apr 2015 11

Resilience: Two Sisters & a Story of Mental Illness By Jessie Close

2015 Articles, Christine F. Anderson, Mental Health

by Christine Anderson

Jessie Close is an internationally recognized speaker, author, poet, and advocate for mental health reform. She lives with bipolar disorder in the foothills of the Tobacco Root Mountains outside Bozeman, Montana with her service dog, Snitz, and three other dogs. She is the author of The Warping of Al (Harper & Row, 1990), and she writes a regular blog for Bring Change 2 Mind, an anti-stigma organization that her sister, Glenn, created at Jessie's request.

Mar 2015 28

Why a World Bipolar Day?

2015 Articles, Mental Health, Muffy Walker

by Muffy Walker

World Diabetes Day, World Cancer Day, and even World Egg Day. And now, drum roll please, World Bipolar Day (WBD). WBD is a day to bring about awareness of bipolar disorder. It is the brainchild of Dr. Pichet Udomratn, a member of the Asian Network of Bipolar Disorder (ANBD), who collaborated with International Bipolar Foundation (IBPF) and International Society for Bipolar Disorders (ISBD) to bring his idea to fruition. Now each year, WBD will be celebrated on March 30, the birthday of Vincent Van Gogh, who was posthumously diagnosed as probably having bipolar disorder.

Mar 2015 14

Fox’s Breakout Hit Empire Takes on Mental Illness

2015 Articles, Christine F. Anderson, Mental Health, TV

by Christine Anderson

Fox’s new drama, Empire, tells the rags-to-riches story of the Lyon family, whose patriarch, Lucious, played by Terrance Howard, rises to fame as a hip-hop artist, and starts a record label called Empire with drug money his ex-wife, Cookie (Taraji P. Henson), earned by dealing, for which she spent 17 years in prison. She left behind three children.

Feb 2015 21

Forever Different: A Memoir of One Woman’s Journey Living with Bipolar Disorder By Christine Anderson

2015 Articles, Every Other Book, Lorie Lewis Ham, Mental Health

by Lorie Lewis Ham

Forever Different is the true story of Christine Anderson's struggle with bipolar disorder. Even without mental health issues, Christine's life has never been easy, but this story shows her struggles and her triumphs with brutal honesty.

Feb 2015 14

Hope For More Effective Treatments for Depression & Bipolar Disorder

2015 Articles, Mental Health

by Roberta Tovey

Millions of people suffer from depression and bipolar disorder, but the treatments we have today, though helpful for some, do not work for everyone. Some treatments can work for a while, but become less effective over time. Others come with problematic side effects. Alternative therapies, like exercise and meditation, are often overlooked.

Jan 2015 3

All Along the Watchtower: A view into mental illness; a crisis of existence

2015 Articles, Mental Health

by Carmel Christine

A turn of events can catapult your life as you know it into a sphere so foreign, so cold, dark, distant and frightening that you barely recognize it. My teen son was diagnosed with Bipolar several years ago. This disorder didn’t arrive subtly so we could slowly get our bearings and adjust to it. But, of course that likely wouldn’t have made a difference.

Dec 2014 13

The Power of Media: An International Bipolar Foundation Column

2014 Articles, Mental Health, Muffy Walker

by Muffy Walker

Last week I received a call from a colleague inquiring whether I had heard about the recent homicide that occurred not too far from where I live. I had not, but quickly researched the incident.

Nov 2014 15

Denial, Acceptance, Recovery: What Stage of Bipolar are YOU in?

2014 Articles, Christine F. Anderson, Mental Health

by Christine Anderson

I was diagnosed Bipolar I in 1987 and I spent 23 years in denial, became medication compliant in 2008, and finally accepted my disease in 2010. I have been in recovery since 2011.
I have experienced all three stages of my topic and I would like to discuss with you and tell you from first-hand experience what each one of them feels and looks like.

Aug 2014 16

The Caregiver: International Bipolar Foundation Column

2014 Articles, Mental Health, Muffy Walker

by Muffy Walker

Bipolar disorder affects 5.7million American adults. For each person with this disorder, or any other malady for that matter, there are millions more who are their caregivers.

Jul 2014 12

How to Promote Recovery from Mental Illness

2014 Articles, Mental Health

by Rev. Mary Alice Do

Often people are unaware that friends, acquaintances and co-workers are struggling with a mental illness. This makes it seem like mental illness is not a serious problem, but it is. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, one in four people will have a mental illness in any given year; one in 17 has a serious mental illness. Add to this loved ones and you have a great many people affected.