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Connie Francis reports that a biopic about her life is progressing. “The script is done and set to shoot later this year,” she says. “I collaborated with Gloria Estefan, who’s going to portray me in the film.” In the meantime, Francis, now age 69 - who has survived four divorces, bipolar disorder and a rape - maintains a busy schedule of concerts and says she always includes audience favorites, like her hit “Who’s Sorry Now.” [Walter Scott's Personality Parade, Parade.com March 23, 2008; Image from the Connie Francis album The Italian Collection, Vol. 1] Connie Francis recorded her first single at 16, but it was the 1958 recording of "Who's Sorry Now?" that rocketed her to stardom, just when she was thinking of giving up show business (she had accepted a pre-med scholarship at New York University). In 1974, following a performance, Connie was the victim of a brutal terrorizing rape in her hotel room. She was unable to perform for many years afterward, and a couple years after she finally resumed touring in 1981 she was diagnosed as being manic depressive. It was revealed at this time that she had been addicted to pills for perhaps as long as 25 years, reportedly from being given uppers and downers to perform and sleep early, similar to what happened to Judy Garland. She is said to have undergone shock treatments which were helpful. In 1991 she suffered a collapse due to lithium toxicity, but at last report she is still giving the occasional concert, and retrospective albums continue to be released, delighting legions of adoring fans. From Connie Francis - Singer / Actress, by Kimberly Read & Marcia Purse, About.com.         ~ ~ ~ ~                  What Are the Symptoms of Bipolar Disorder? Bipolar disorder causes dramatic mood swings—from overly "high" and/or irritable to sad and hopeless, and then back again, often with periods of normal mood in between. Severe changes in energy and behavior go along with these changes in mood. The periods of highs and lows are called episodes of mania and depression. Signs and symptoms of mania (or a manic episode) include:     * Increased energy, activity, and restlessness     * Excessively "high," overly good, euphoric mood     * Extreme irritability     * Racing thoughts and talking very fast, jumping from one idea to another     * Distractibility, can't concentrate well     * Little sleep needed     * Unrealistic beliefs in one's abilities and powers     * Poor judgment     * Spending sprees     * A lasting period of behavior that is different from usual     * Increased sexual drive     * Abuse of drugs, particularly cocaine, alcohol, and sleeping medications     * Provocative, intrusive, or aggressive behavior     * Denial that anything is wrong A manic episode is diagnosed if elevated mood occurs with 3 or more of the other symptoms most of the day, nearly every day, for 1 week or longer. If the mood is irritable, 4 additional symptoms must be present... A mild to moderate level of mania is called hypomania. Hypomania may feel good to the person who experiences it and may even be associated with good functioning and enhanced productivity. Thus even when family and friends learn to recognize the mood swings as possible bipolar disorder, the person may deny that anything is wrong. Without proper treatment, however, hypomania can become severe mania in some people or can switch into depression. More on source page http://mentalhealth.about.com/cs/depression/l/blbpld.htm              Behavioral and Emotional Effects of Manic Phases A small percentage of bipolar disorder patients demonstrate heightened productivity or creativity during manic phases. More often, however, the distorted thinking and impaired judgment that are characteristic of manic episodes can lead to dangerous behavior, including the following:     * Spending money with reckless abandon, causing financial ruin in some cases.     * Angry, paranoid, and even violent behaviors.     * Openly promiscuous behavior. Often such behaviors are followed by low self-esteem and guilt, which are experienced during the depressed phases. During all stages of the illness, patients need to be reminded that the mood disturbance will pass and that its severity can be diminished by treatment.        http://adam.about.com/reports/000066_3.htm                  Hypomania - a less extreme form of manic episode - could include:     * Having utter confidence in yourself     * Being able to focus well on projects     * Feeling extra creative or innovative     * Being able to brush off problems that would paralyze you during depression     * Feeling "on top of the world" but without going over the top. Hypomania does not include hallucinations or delusions, but a hypomanic person still might exhibit some reckless or inappropriate behavior. A person who has moods of depression and hypomania is said to have Bipolar II. http://bipolar.about.com/cs/bpbasics/a/0210_whatisbp.htm Also see the Hypomania page         ~ ~ ~ ~   Misdiagnosis and Medication Psychiatric misdiagnosis and consequent unnecessary or even destructive medication for "troubling" symptoms is an issue that impacts many gifted and talented people. In her article My Adventures in Psychopharmacology, Gogo Lidz writes, "Between the ages of 16 and 21, I was prescribed more than fifteen different stimulants, antidepressants, antipsychotics, and mood stabilizers. The cure was worse than the disease... a small galaxy of ADD drugs: Metadate, Dextrostat, Dexedrine Spansules, Adderall, Adderall XR.." Now she is back in college and has been free of manic feelings and suicidal thoughts.         Continued on High Ability         ~ ~ ~ ~ Psychiatrist Kay Redfield Jamison:  I have felt more things, more deeply.. I have often asked myself whether, given the choice, I would choose to have manic-depressive illness. If lithium were not available to me, or didn't work for me, the answer would be a simple no... and it would be an answer laced with terror. But lithium does work for me, and therefore I can afford to pose the question. Strangely enough, I think I would choose to have it. It's complicated... I honestly believe that as a result of it I have felt more things, more deeply; had more experiences, more intensely; loved more, and have been more loved... ... laughed more often for having cried more often; appreciated more the springs, for all the winters... Depressed, I have crawled on my hands and knees in order to get across a room and have done it for month after month. But normal or manic I have run faster, thought faster, and loved faster than most I know.  /// Studies indicate that a high number of established artists.. meet the diagnostic criteria for depression... it seems these diseases can sometimes enhance or otherwise contribute to creativity in some people. book: Touched With Fire : Manic Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament > Articles by Kay Redfield Jamison ~ ~ ~ ~ Andy Behrman on overcoming his “manic frenzy” Weekly $25,000 shopping binges at Barney's and "high end" boutiques for clothes I barely wore were the norm. So were lavish meals with friends where I picked up $1000 tabs. These high-priced activities were within my limits because I was extremely successful financially, a testament to my manic behavior, not to mention my involvement in illegal activities. I could stay up three nights in a row and crank out screenplays and novels that would take other people years to write. I lived dangerously, too. I picked up strangers in bars and after hours clubs, did drugs and drank excessively.... Since the drama of my manic frenzy, 19 electroshock treatments, all kinds of experimentation with medications and talk therapy is over, the dust has finally settled. I have been living even-keeled with only one major episode of manic depression in the last five years, and I have made tremendous changes in my lifestyle: I don't drink alcohol or take illegal drugs, I go to sleep on a relatively normal schedule, and I keep regular work hours. ... But for quite some time, I was left was left with a huge "gap" in my life because there was no manic behavior left at all. What's a manic depressive to do? There's a tremendous amount of loss associated with "saying goodbye" to mania, as it was my friend for so many years. I needed to fill this gap because my life felt so dull and I felt so lonely at the same time, too. So I mapped out a strategy for myself to cope with this incredible loss... from article Living Mania-Free by Andy Behrman Author of Electroboy: A Memoir of Mania photo [with Troy, his shiba inu] from his site electroboy.com ~ ~ ~ ~ What it's like to be bipolar There is a particular kind of pain, elation, loneliness, and terror involved in this kind of madness. When you're high it's tremendous. The ideas and feelings are fast and frequent like shooting stars, and you follow them until you find better and brighter ones. Shyness goes, the right words and gestures are suddenly there, the power to captivate others a felt certainty. There are interests found in uninteresting people. Sensuality is pervasive and the desire to seduce and be seduced irresistible. Feelings of ease, intensity, power, well-being, financial omnipotence, and euphoria pervade one's marrow. But, somewhere this changes. The fast ideas are too fast, and there are far too many, overwhelming confusion replaces clarity. Memory goes. Humor and absorption on friend's faces are replaced by fear and concern. Everything previously moving with the grain is now against.... you are irritable, angry, frightened, uncontrollable, and emerged totally in the blackest caves of the mind. You never knew those caves were there. It will never end, for madness carves its own reality. Kay Redfield Jamison, MD - from her book An Unquiet Mind excerpt from her article What it is like to be a bipolar > painting: "Into the Tangled Wood" by Anne Sudworth - related book: Enchanted World by Anne Sudworth ~ ~ ~ ~ Marijuana, acid, cocaine, pharmaceuticals -- [Carrie Fisher] tried them all. Being on the manic side of bipolar disorder, her drug use was a way to "dial down" the manic in her. In some respects it was a form of self-medication. "Drugs made me feel more normal," she says. "They contained me. So maybe I was taking drugs to keep the monster in the box." ...  She eventually found a psychiatrist, proper medication, and a support group for manic depressives. ... Fisher has two moods, Roy the manic extrovert and Pam the quiet introvert. "Roy decorated my house and Pam has to live in it," she quips. from article: "Carrie Fisher" by Lybi Ma, Psychology Today, Dec. 2001      ~ ~ ~ ~ Linda Hamilton starred in the multi-million dollar Terminator blockbusters and was one of Hollywood's first female action heroes.  Away from the spotlight, however, Linda Hamilton was living a personal hell. Now, Linda, is revealing the truth behind her private battle -- a lifelong struggle with manic depression that went undiagnosed for most of her life. ... Linda found her passion in acting and moved to Hollywood in her early 20s, but depression shadowed her every move.  "I really started to break down," says Linda. "I turned to drugs. Alcohol use. I medicated with lots of cocaine in my early life. Anything that I could do to get my confidence up." ... After years of fighting medication, Linda says medication has helped regulate her depression for almost 10 years.  "Every day's a good day," says Linda. "It's taken me a long time to get my life back. To be the person I was raised to be and the person I always was inside that couldn't find a way out." > from the Oprah Show Depressed, Mentally Ill and Famous ~ ~ ~ ~

Children with or at high risk for bipolar score higher on a creativity index Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have shown for the first time that a sample of children who either have or are at high risk for bipolar disorder score higher on a creativity index than healthy children. Children with the bipolar parents—even those who were not bipolar themselves—scored higher than the healthy children. “I think it’s fascinating,” said Kiki Chang, MD, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and co-author of the paper. “There is a reason that many people who have bipolar disorder become very successful, and these findings address the positive aspects of having this illness.” Many scientists believe that a relationship exists between creativity and bipolar disorder, which was formerly called manic-depressive illness and is marked by dramatic shifts in a person’s mood, energy and ability to function. Numerous studies have examined this link; several have shown that artists and writers may have two to three times more incidences of psychosis, mood disorders or suicide when compared with people in less creative professions.

Terence Ketter, MD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and a study co-author, said he became interested in the link between mental illness and creativity after noticing that patients who came through the bipolar clinic, despite having problems, were extraordinarily bright, motivated people who “tended to lead interesting lives.” He began a scholarly pursuit of this link and in 2002 published a study that showed healthy artists were more similar in personality to individuals with bipolar disorder (the majority of whom were on medication) than to healthy people in the general population. Some researchers believe that bipolar disorder or mania, a defining symptom of the disease, causes creative activity. Ketter said he believes that bipolar patients’ creativity stems from their mobilizing energy that results from negative emotion to initiate some sort of solution to their problems. “In this case, discontent is the mother of invention,” he said. > from Stanford University School of Medicine press release 11/8/05 image from book Advances in Treatment of Bipolar Disorder - by Terence A. Ketter, M.D.

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Evidence is weak that depression spawns creativity We idealize depression, associating it with perceptiveness, interpersonal sensitivity and other virtues. Like tuberculosis in its day, depression is a form of vulnerability that even contains a measure of erotic appeal. But the aspect of the romanticization of depression that seems to me to call for special attention is the notion that depression spawns creativity. Objective evidence for that effect is weak. Older inquiries, the first attempts to examine the overlap of madness and genius, made positive claims for schizophrenia. Recent research has looked at mood disorders. These studies suggest that bipolar disorder may be overrepresented in the arts. (Bipolarity, or manic-depression, is another diagnosis proposed for van Gogh.)

But then mania and its lesser cousin hypomania may drive productivity in many fields. One classic study hints at a link between alcoholism and literary work. But the benefits of major depression, taken as a single disease, have been hard to demonstrate. If anything, traits eroded by depression -- like energy and mental flexibility -- show up in contemporary studies of creativity. /// Freedom from depression would make the world safe for high neurotics, virtuosi of empathy, emotional bungee-jumpers. It would make the world safe for van Gogh. Peter D. Kramer > from his article There's Nothing Deep About Depression [The New York Times, April 17, 2005] - He is author of book Against Depression > image from book Bipolar Disorder: A Guide for Patients and Families - by Francis Mark Mondimore

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Ben Stiller was quoted by a Hollywood.com writer [in 2001] as saying, "I have not been an easygoing guy. I think it's called bipolar manic depression. I've got a rich history of that in my family. I'm not proud of the fact that I lost my temper. Sometimes you just [expletive] up." The quote resulted from incidents occurring on the set of Zoolander, a movie he co-wrote, starred in and directed. > from Ben Stiller page on About.com Bipolar Celebrities site > photo: on the set of "Along Came Polly"

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In 2001, Jane Pauley spent nearly three weeks in a hospital for treatment of bipolar disorder, the anchor reveals in her autobiography, Skywriting... The illness, according to the excerpt, was triggered by a rare reaction to prescription drugs: steroids being taken for a stubborn case of hives. "The steroids had the desired effect -- the hives subsided -- but as a side effect of the drugs, I was revved!" With later drug therapies, including more steroids and an antidepressant, her moods swings intensified, from sheer exhaustion to boundless energy.

"My tides were fluctuating -- back and forth, back and forth -- sometimes so fast they seemed to be spinning." She entered New York Hospital in the spring, under an assumed name, during a leave of absence from Dateline NBC. Today, she's off steroids and free of mood swings, thanks to lithium. She's happy to share her story and talk about the illness. "I was strange only for me," she writes. "New Yorkers, by reputation, are fast-talking, assertive and easily annoyed; I fit right in." from Pauley reveals struggle with bipolar disorder -  By Ann Oldenburg, USA Today 8/18/2004 photo at right from The Jane Pauley Show site which has excerpts from her book  ...Skywriting : A Life Out of the Blue by Jane Pauley

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Electroboy is Andy's chronicle of his battle with manic depression or bipolar disorder -- the euphoric highs and desperate lows. He was misdiagnosed by more than eight doctors and even when he was finally diagnosed with this chronic illness, he was unsuccessful on any regimen of medication. With no hope of his condition stabilizing, he turned to the last resort: electroshock therapy also known as electroconvulsive therapy and commonly referred to as ECT. For years Andy hid his raging mania under a larger-than-life personality. He sought a high wherever he could find one and changed jobs as some people change outfits - - filmmaker, art dealer, hustler; whatever made him feel like a cartoon character, invincible and bright.

Electroboy is about living life at breakneck speed. He hopped on flights from New York to Tokyo and Paris at a moment's notice, spent $25,000 without a bit of thought on a huge shopping spree and stayed awake nights exploring the underworld of nightlife in Manhattan or whatever city he happened to be visiting, in search of the perfect high. But when Electroboy turned to art forgery, he found himself the subject of a scandal lapped up by the New York media, then in jail, then under house arrest. And for once he didn't have a ready escape hatch from his unraveling life. Ingesting handfuls of antidepressants and tranquilizers, feeling his mind lose traction, he decided to opt for ECT. He underwent nineteen electroshock treatments over the course of about a year and a half. Behrman's writing attains heights of precision and force as he details the terror of these treatments, which merged finally into the grateful ecstasy of relief.    >> from article "Meet Electroboy" - from site book: Electroboy : A Memoir of Mania by Andy Behrman

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from article  Mariette Hartley Triumphs Over Bipolar Disorder As opposed to depression, what is different about people with bipolar disorder is the manic phase often starts out with the person feeling more energized, creative, productive as well as hypersexual.  "More often than not it keeps escalating so that at a certain point the person's mind is racing so fast they can't keep up with themselves," reports Dr. Frederick Goodwin [research professor of psychiatry at George Washington University and the former Director of the National Institute of Mental Health]. "Their grandiosity prevents them from seeing the negative consequences of their actions." "That was certainly historically true for me," notes Mariette Hartley, who co-founded the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.  "One symptom of bipolar disorder is hyper-sexuality. I couldn't say no. I didn't have that word in my vocabulary. When you are that sexual at that early an age, it really wreaks havoc internally." To numb her social and sexual discomfort, Hartley says she began drinking at age 14 and was "clearly an alcoholic from the very beginning of my drinking."

In fact, Goodwin reports that more than 50% of bipolar individuals experience problems with alcohol or drugs. The Emmy-winning actress says she hit rock bottom with depression six years into her sobriety.  "In 1994, I was going through a terrible divorce and someone said I needed to get help," Hartley recalls.  "I ended up in the doctor's office, and he immediately assumed I was depressed. So I started on a round of anti-depressants but that caused me to go into a manic state. That was when I first really began realizing that something else was going on." Goodwin says correct diagnosis is difficult because those afflicted are usually only willing to go to the doctor when they're depressed -- so the doctor sees the depression but not the high.  Studies indicate that patients wait an average of eight years before obtaining an accurate diagnosis. /// "If you are on the right medication for you now for God sakes stay on it and don't change," urges Hartley, who is enjoying her 15th year of sobriety and is feeling better than ever. "But if it doesn't seem to be working, then go to a doctor and find the right one for you." from article Mariette Hartley Triumphs Over Bipolar Disorder -  by John Morgan,  with Stephen A. Shoop, M.D. ...related book : Manic-Depressive Illness -  by Frederick Goodwin, Kay Redfield Jamison

related pages:.....addictions.......counseling / therapy.......

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Maurice Benard was honored at the sixth annual Erasing the Stigma Mental Health Leadership Awards luncheon May 17, 2002. Benard plays Sonny Corinthos on the ABC daytime drama "General Hospital" and is "one of the first Latino actors to speak openly about his battle with bipolar disorder."  [from Didi Hirsch Community Mental Health Center press release.] Benard is a spokesman for the.National Depressive and Manic-Depressive Association

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I knew from a very young age that there was something very wrong with me, but I thought it was just that I was not a good person, that I didn't try hard enough. As with many people, the overt symptoms of my manic-depressive illness didn't show themselves until my late teens.  And that was with a manic episode. From that time on, until I was diagnosed at the age of thirty-five, I rode a wild roller coaster, from agitated, out of control highs to disabling, often suicidal lows. ... There were moments when I played Helen Keller when I felt literally transported in time and space and reality. ...  And occasionally it happens now. Every once in a while, there's one little moment when you're just not there. Whoever it is you're inventing is there. And the older I get, the more the skill is molecular. The sense of safety I have now that I'm controlled with lithium lets me focus my energy on my performance. I'm not derailed by the mania or the depression.   ///

I'd be less than honest if I said that manic depression is not part of my life today. For one thing, it is my genetic heritage, and that never goes away. Second, I am who I am, with behavior patterns that have been going on for years. Just taking a pill doesn't mean I'm going to become a different person. The whole world doesn't immediately turn rosy. So I keep working really hard to break behaviors I don't like in myself. I practice. It's like playing the piano. I practice. I screw up. I practice again. Patty Duke *A Brilliant Madness : Living With Manic-Depressive Illness

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Reese Witherspoon will star in "Daughter of the Queen of Sheba," a big-screen adaptation of Jacki Lyden's memoir of growing up with a mother whom everyone labeled as crazy but actually suffered from what is now known to be manic-depression.  Lyden's mother often would become convinced she was a woman with power, such as the Queen of Sheba or Marie Antoinette, then act out her delusions. Her mother's escapes from reality inspired Lyden to seek a career in radio journalism, where she could "escape" to exotic places like Baghdad to cover the Persian Gulf War...  Lyden's feelings of helplessness growing up, her mother's refusal to seek treatment and her mother's relationships with the opposite sex -- which, in turn, affected Lyden's relationships -- are among the complex issues explored in the script.  .. [from news story by Zorianna Kit, The Hollywood Reporter , May 21, 2003]  ....Daughter of the Queen of Sheba: A Memoir by Jacki Lyden

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Nell Casey [left], editor of Unholy Ghost, was only 16 years old when her sister Maud [right] was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.  Eleven years later, Maud stopped taking her medication and, after a brief hospitalization for mania, fell into a four-month depressive episode.  For this period of time, Nell and her mother became Maud's primary caregivers. ... Eventually Maud recovered. ... [She is a novelist.] Nell describes the difficulties and emotions of caregiving, along with the incredible triumph of her sister's recovery.   What effect did your sister's depression have on you personally? Because I didn't understand how to ration my energy, I ended up with some emotional and physical complications afterward. I had terrible anxiety even when she was doing much better.  My anxiety was feverish and high about everything. I had a huge amount of hypochondria. I lost a lot of weight. I thought I was dying because I couldn't gain weight. ... I threw myself into care giving so wholeheartedly. It took a long time to downshift. ...

At times Maud had me convinced that we were all suffering from mood disorders. Even in her delusions, the leap from me to her didn't seem that far.  I didn't worry that I would suddenly develop manic depression, but I did worry about my mental health because my anxiety was so high.  In trying to imagine what she was going through, it became too easy to feel my mind not being able to hold on.    What motivated you to create your book, Unholy Ghost? Initially it was from the personal experience of dealing with Maud's illness. The book was a home for us to express and write about Maud's experience.  Then, the book grew to include many other writers' experiences with depression. I find the questions surrounding depression and mania so relevant and powerful.  The vulnerability, loneliness, isolation, and worry are issues that everyone can understand. from interview with Nell Casey [from site of Families  for Depression Awareness] .Nell Casey. Unholy Ghost : Writers on Depression

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"Creative people often worry that taking an anti-manic drug such as lithium
will strip them of their creativity.  Mogens Schou, the researcher who pioneered
the use of lithium in manic-depressive disorder, once did a study in which he
interviewed twenty-four highly creative people on maintenance lithium therapy.

Twelve felt the lithium had not influenced their creativity, six reported that their
creativity had been diminished, and six felt that their creativity had been enhanced."

from book: Manic Depression and Creativity

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....articles:

The Benefits of Restlessness and Jagged Edges - by Kay Redfield Jamison, M.D.

Bipolar Explorer - By Hilary MacGregor, Los Angeles Times - "Manic Hollywood tales are never in short supply: crazy agents screaming into the phone, out-of-control actors driving drunk, starlets creating outre public spectacles or insomniac writers, holed up in hotel rooms for weeks, hammering out the perfect screenplay. This is not natural behavior, except in L.A., where it is almost expected. The city provides the physical and emotional backdrop for a new book by Terri Cheney, a former entertainment lawyer who exposes the more clinical side of all that out-of-control energy. "Manic: A Memoir" chronicles Cheney's decades-long struggle to come to terms with and manage her bipolar disorder."

Creativity and Bipolar Disorder - by Nicole Megatulski
History has always held a place for the "mad genius", the kind who, in a bout of euphoric fervor, rattles off revolutionary ideas, incomprehensible to the general population, yet invaluable to the population's evolution into a better adapted species over time. Is this link between creativity and mental illness one of coincidence, or are the two actually related?

Creativity and Depression  by Douglas Eby
"That kind of numbness, that sense of endless hopelessness and erosion of spiritual vitality are some of the reasons depression can have such a devastating impact on creative inspiration and expression. ... Psychiatrist Kay Redfield Jamison, herself a person with bipolar disorder or manic depression, notes in her book "Touched with Fire" that the majority of people suffering from mood disorder "do not possess extraordinary imagination, and most accomplished artists do not suffer from recurring mood swings." She writes, "To assume, then, that such diseases usually promote artistic talent wrongly reinforces simplistic notions of the 'mad genius.' But, it seems that these diseases can sometimes enhance or otherwise contribute to creativity in some people."

Depression and Creativity by Douglas Eby
Kay Redfield Jamison, professor of psychiatry.. and herself a person with bipolar depression, notes in her book.. that most accomplished artists do not suffer from recurring mood swings. She writes, "To assume, then, that such diseases usually promote artistic talent wrongly reinforces simplistic notions of the 'mad genius.'"

Making good use of depression - by Douglas Eby -- Depression can be a profoundly damaging and disrupting condition, spiritually and psychologically corrosive, preventing us from living fully and realizing our talents. But a number of people also say the experience has had real value for them. Psychiatrist Kay Redfield Jamison first planned her own suicide at 17, and attempted to carry it out at 28. Referring to her bipolar disorder, she has said, "I have felt more things, more deeply..."

Moods and the muse by Bruce Bower [Science News]

My Adventures in Psychopharmacology - By Gogo Lidz
Between the ages of 16 and 21, I was prescribed more than fifteen different stimulants, antidepressants, antipsychotics, and mood stabilizers. The cure was worse than the disease.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids & Bipolar Disorder - published by HBC Protocols
Research by Andrew L. Stoll, M.D., of McLean Hospital indicates that Omega-3 fatty acids, particularly those found in certain fish oil preparations, exhibit tremendous mood stabilization effects.

Recollections of a Journey Through a Psychotic Episode: Or, Mental Illness and Creativity Anonymous [by Anonymous]

What it is like to be a bipolar - by Kay Redfield Jamison, MD

>> more Depression / Bipolar articles

>> brief articles/posts:

An incredible time to be bipolar
Elizabeth Swados on bipolar and burning rubber
Pathologizing and stigmatizing
Mood Disorders, Misdiagnosis and Medication

...sites:. 

Bipolar Advantage

bipolarhome.org

Depression relief : products / programs

....books:

Andy Behrman. Electroboy : A Memoir of Mania

Carrie Fisher's autobiographical novel : Postcards from the Edge

Frederick K. Goodwin M.D. Manic-Depressive Illness

D. Jablow Hershman, Julian Lieb, MD. Manic Depression and Creativity

Michael Horowitz, editor. Sisters of the Extreme: Women Writing on the Drug Experience, Including Charlotte Bronte,
Louisa May Alcott, Anais Nin, Maya Angelou, Billie Holiday, Nina Hagen, Carrie Fisher, and Others

Kay Redfield Jamison, MD. book: Touched With Fire : Manic Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament

Francis Mark Mondimore M.D. Bipolar Disorder: A Guide for Patients and Families

Mitzi Waltz. Bipolar Disorders: A Guide to Helping Children & Adolescents

Tom Wootton.  The Depression Advantage, and The Bipolar Advantage

>> More Books : depression

Related pages:*--Depression and Creativity front page.....,depression*---depression:: teen/young adult.

.articles : mental health.......depression : books......depression articles........hypomania.....addictions

.mental health...more mood topics....depression relief products / programs.....counseling / therapy....

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