Crime and Mental Illness Crime and Mental illness has been getting a bad rap for many years. With each school shooting the media immediately seeks to determine if the shooter was living with some form of mental illness. In 1989, Patrick Edward Purdy, murdered five children and wounded 32 others in Stockton, California In 1999, […]
Category: mental health
Homeless
I’ve mentioned on occasion that I was homeless for a period of time. However, don’t think I’ve shared my experience. It’s time I change that. When I became homeless is a little hazy. It was during the period after I became sober, yet, hadn’t been diagnosed with depression or bipolar disorder. That was a six […]
Mentally ill in Jails Rather Than Institutions
Early Prison Reform for Mentally Ill in Jails Dorothea Dix was the first child of an impoverished family. Her father was a Methodist preacher who was an abusive alcoholic. Her mother struggled with depression. In 1841, when she was 38 years old, Dorothea was asked to lead a Bible Study class for women at the […]
Am I Crazy?
Am I crazy? How about loony? Demented? Deranged? Loopy? Mad? Psycho? Whacko? Cuckoo? Nutjob? Are all of these okay? Are any of them okay? What about calling me mentally ill? Is that okay? It is with me. Unlike many diagnosed with a mental illness I don’t mind being called mentally ill. Granted, many of the […]
Andrew Solomon on Depression
This is an excellent episode, that was sent to me, of Ted talk with Andrew Solomon. I immediately knew that I must share it with you all. Let me know what you think “The opposite of depression is not happiness, but vitality, and it was vitality that seemed to seep away from me in that […]
My Second Life
In case you haven’t heard, Second Life is an online virtual world populated by millions of people across the globe. In the Second Life world you can be almost anyone you want to be, do almost anything you want to do, and have almost anything you want to have. Check out yesterday’s article to get […]
Increase Life Expectancy – It’s Up To You
This week I’ve written about how to increase life expectancy of those with bipolar disorder being 9.2 years less than the U.S. national average. I touched on what you can do to close that gap. Having BP can be a daily struggle just to perform “normal” activities. The last thing I want to hear is […]
Chronic Disease and Bipolar Disorder
I’ve recently read some medical journals concerning the lower life expectancy of those living with Bipolar Disorder. Unfortunately those diagnosed with BP have an average lifespan that is 9.2 years less than the national average. It’s believed the primary reasons for this are: Suicide rate Greater Risk of Chronic Disease Lack of medical care I […]
Ruby Wax and Mental Illness
Below is a video of Ruby Wax that I stumbled upon last week. It’s from TED.com As many of you know, I love using humor to help people learn and understand what it’s like to live with mental illness. Using humor also helps me keep me from taking myself too seriously. I’ve never heard of […]
Ten Days Lockdown: A New Beginning
Day seven of being in lockdown arrived and I was fully relaxed and ready to go home. Most of the friends I made had been released. Darryl was an exception. Darryl was from a family of Hollywood icons, but had been the black sheep of the family for most of his life due to his […]