John's Blog

I encourage you to read all my blog entries and to check out the other valuable resources at BipolarConnect, but I also strongly encourage you to return here.

Think of my blog as the appetizer and dessert. My website is more like the main course. Feel free to sample the entire buffet and please remember to bookmark both this site and BipolarConnect..

Britney Spears: Blessed are ...

Can you name some of the contestants on a current reality TV show? Okay, that's an easy one. How about three women pop star/airheads who act weird? Another easy... Read more

My Life as a Red Sox Fan - Part I

I grew up in a town in central Connecticut, about half-way between New York and Boston. This was the fifties and sixties. The New York Yankees had Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris in... Read more

Rethinking Antipsychotics - Part II

In an earlier blog I noted that there may be a sea change in how psychiatry thinks about prescribing new-generation (atypical) antipsychotics such as Zyprexa and... Read more

Alex Hamilton Talks to His Psychiatrist

Imagine you're Alexander Hamilton. The man on the ten-dollar bill. You're a Founding Father, perhaps the most influential Founding Father of them all. You're... Read more

Take My Second Corinthians Moments - Please!

"Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep." 2 Corinthians 11:25 If you want to know... Read more

FDA Approves Antipsychotic for Bipolar Kids: What Does It Mean?

What is wrong with this sentence? "The powerful anti-psychotic drug Risperdal was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday for use in children and... Read more

Special People: The Real Blessing in My Life

Eight months ago, I flew into San Diego, ahead of all my worldly possessions packed into six or seven cartons. My marriage in New Jersey had broken up, my cash reserves were... Read more

My Mystic Dead Sea Scrolls Experience

You may think this blog is about the Dead Sea Scrolls. It's really about connectedness and healing: It's going on 1:30 Tuesday morning when I arrive in San Diego from the... Read more

Live from Orlando: Three days of DBSA

I just checked out of my hotel in Orlando. A recap of the last few days: Thursday I'm in my hotel room reviewing my talk I will be giving tomorrow at the DBSA... Read more

On the Road: Live from Orlando

Monday I've been up since six in the morning, California time. Six or seven hours in the air and four hours in airports later, I walk out of the airport terminal in Orlando... Read more

Swimming with the Sharks

Readers, please don't try this at home: Several days ago the DBSA conference organizers contacted me. By the time you read this I will be on a plane to Orlando headed for the... Read more

Your Brain On Mr Wrong: Cortex in Thrall to Limbic

I'm a bit outside of my area of expertise here. I'm going to try to explain the workings of the brain from a woman's perspective. Here goes: Your hot date is due to show up... Read more

Your Brain On Rosie: Reaction Meets Thought

Imagine: You are at home, watching your favorite Fox News talking head tell you there is no such thing as global warming. There is a knock on the door. It's Rosie O'Donnell.... Read more

Everything Pasta: How I Discovered Lemon Zucchini and Became Enlightened

What do you call someone who comes up with a lemon zucchini? A benefactor to humanity. Okay, I'm not the first one, but I think I found a new twist. My neighbors up the... Read more

My Life as a Token Consumer

"A camel is a horse designed by a committee." No, that's definitely unfair. Look at all the great things that have come out of committees: The Iraq War, 45 million... Read more

Forget Tokenism: Just Do It - But Show Up to Work

Breaking Down Bipolar

In response to one of my blogs, Louise posted: "Physicians - mostly trained as biologists - need to go back to their roots. Taxonomy is very specific. Diseases are... Read more

Talking About Recovery at DBSA - A Sneak Peek

As I revealed in earlier blogs, I am an unreconstructed introvert - an INFP on the Myers-Briggs to be more precise - the type of person who could happily stay snowed in by myself... Read more

Rethinking Antipsychotics - Part I

In May, I came back from the American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting rather surprised to find that psychiatry was finally openly acknowledging that: 1) treating patients... Read more

"Sicko" is Not Controversial; It is a Challenge

Yesterday was Fourth of July. I love my country, which is why I want it back, along with everything it stands for. You’ve been warned. If Rush Limbaugh and other glib... Read more

High and Low Social Energy: The Real Polar in Bipolar?

I’ve been doing a lot of sleeping the past several days. One reason is that my entire holistic mind-body connection is demanding time-out after a nine-month period that has... Read more

Get out your hankies. I moved to southern California seven months ago, where three of my new housemates were cats. One was an ancient big grey guy named Elvis and the... Read more

Life is Good, So is Knowing My Limits

I’m back in my splendid isolation 3,500 feet up in the mountains 40 miles outside of San Diego. I am very glad to be back. The previous four days I was hard at work connecting... Read more

Live from The National NAMI Convention: My Life as Didge Man

It’s the second day of the NAMI national convention in San Diego. I rolled in late yesterday, in time to play my didgeridoo at the evening talent show. A didgeridoo is an... Read more

Why Newspapers Have Lost Their Credibility

Recent blogs have commented on the appalling misinformation masquerading as reporting in at least two of the nation’s top newspapers, The New York Times and the Boston Globe.... Read more

Bipolar in Kids: The Boston Globe Goes Antipsychiatrist

The media is unconscionably recycling yet more misinformation on bipolar children and their treatment. This time the culprit is the Boston Globe, which on June 17 ran a front page... Read more

Pittsburgh: Then and Now

Flashback, June 2001: After putting out an email Newsletter for two years, I finally summon up the nerve to attend my first psychiatric conference. The occasion is the Fourth... Read more

Back From Pittsburgh

I arrived home from Pittsburgh late Sunday night. I’m brain-dead and fatigued and have a cold and have lost my voice, but a picture tells a thousand words. On Friday, I received... Read more

Live From Pittsburgh: Journalist to Receive Award

“Journalist, Distinguished Scientists and Advocacy Group Receive Top Honors at International Conference on Bipolar Disorder,” reads the heading on the press release.... Read more

On the Road: Live from Pittsburgh

They have real towels in the hotel I am staying at. I slept on a king size bed that was so huge that if I kept rolling over and rolling over I would never reach the other side. I... Read more

Off to Pittsburgh

It’s closing in on 11 PM. I have a plane to catch tomorrow and I should have posted this blog hours ago. With conference season in full swing, things get a bit crazy around... Read more

My Answer to John Nash

Excuse me, I’m just figuring out what to do with my Nobel Prize money. Allow me to back up just a bit: A couple of months ago, you may recall, I bought a didgeridoo. A... Read more

SNAKE!!!

As you may recall from an earlier blog, we have two adorable cuddly young cats named Yogi and BooBoo. Not long ago, one of my housemates suggested I emerge from my room... Read more

Live from the APA: 30-Minute Speed Blog

I'm in the press room at the Convention Center at the American Psychiatric Annual Meeting in San Diego. It's just past 8 in the morning, and in 30 minutes I'm off to listen to a... Read more

Live From the APA Annual Meeting, First Dispatch: Cognition, Sleep and Mood Disorders

It’s Sunday morning in San Diego. Yesterday afternoon I rolled into town to register for the American Psychiatric Association annual meeting, the mother of all mental health... Read more

Gearing Up for Conference Season

I have attended two mental health conferences this year (a one-day pediatric bipolar event in Bethesda, MD at the end of March and a two-day information technology affair in Los... Read more