bipolar

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Being Bipolar is a series that began in the
winter of 2011.  It’s an occasional attempt to explore aspects of the
life of a person with manic-depression, or bipolar disorder if you will.  It’s never meant to be a regular feature of The Knight Shift.
 It comes along whenever “the time is nigh” for another installment is called for.  In this series I do my best to be
as honest and forthcoming about this condition as possible, within
reason.  As with anything else of this kind of subject matter, it
should be noted that I am not a medical professional.  So don’t take
anything written here as solid medical advice in the way of drugs etc.
 If you need immediate assistance, please go to the emergency rom of the
nearest hospital, or call 911 on your phone.  You may also find a great
deal of assistance from a local support ...

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Note:  This blog hasn’t been the same lately.  I don’t know if I should keep going or not.  What do you think?

The night before…

The recent state of this blog is reflecting my personal life, and it has nothing to do with just turning 40.

40 is the biblical number of completion.  Moses was 40 when he fled Egypt and it was 40 years later when he returned to lead his people to freedom.  It was 40 years after that when the children of Israel arose to take the land promised them.

Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days, fasting and being tempted by Satan.  Only after that did He begin His ministry.  Noah and his family endured rain for 40 days and 40 nights.  No doubt there are other examples.

(I haven’t seen the Noah movie.  I don’t plan to either.  When I heard there were Ents ...

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In light of the e-mails that came asking if things were okay on this end, I’m feeling led to address why I’ve been absent for the better part of the past two weeks.

There’s really no other way to put it: I got hit with a bipolar depressive episode.  The worst that I have had to go through in a very long time.  And it absolutely robbed me of my desire to write or to post anything at all.  Apart from a few Twitters or Tweets or whatever they’re called, my activity online was a fair reflection of my activity in real life: pretty much nil.

I’ve written about bipolar depression before, but this latest bout
refreshed in my mind how horrible this condition is and how I would
never, ever wish it upon any person.  One moment, you’re feeling high on life.  And the next, totally without warning, your ...

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Dear Scott Adams:

Today’s edition of your comic strip Dilbert is one of the most encouraging – and one of the funniest – cartoons that I’ve come across in a long time. As a person with bipolar disorder and on behalf of many others who must deal with having a mental illness, thank you for giving us something to laugh and smile about 🙂



I think after reading this, I’m gonna begin referring to most other people as “normals” and myself as… how does “meta-human” sound? 🙂

Sincerely,
Chris Knight...

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This past weekend Matthew Warren – the son of Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church and author of The Purpose Driven Life – took his own life after struggling for years with mental illness.  In the wake of this tragedy there has already been considerable reflection by many among the body of Christ about mental illness and what our reaction should be to it.

Ed Stetzer, the president of LifeWay Research, has a very good guest essay on CNN.com.  Titled “My Take: How churches can respond to mental illness”, Stetzer relates his own experiences with Christians plagued with such conditions and how churches should and should not approach it.  From his article…

The first time I dealt with mental illness in church was with a man named Jim. I was young and idealistic – a new pastor serving in upstate New York. Jim was a godsend to us.

...
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Silver Linings Playbook, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, bipolar disorder, movie, mental illnessLast night I finally saw Silver Linings Playbook, the movie that came out late last year with Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro and Chris Tucker. My girlfriend Kristen watched it with me. In retrospect this was not a movie that I could have watched alone and she really was the only person that I could have watched it with.

Silver Linings Playbook is a movie that everyone who has ever suffered from bipolar disorder should see. It is a movie that everyone who has ever had a bipolar person in their life should see. It is a movie that every possible kind of person that I know of, should see. It was not only the best movie that I’ve seen in a theater since The Artist last year, it is also the movie that I am finding myself wishing more and more could have been made long ...

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Bipolar Bear, whose entire appearance in the animated series The Tick was for a whopping 8 seconds (series premiere The Tick vs. The Idea Men, 1994):

Heh-heh, love it! I’ve thought since the beginning that The Tick was one of the most intelligent, cerebral and funny shows to ever come out of animation. Nothing of the past decade and a half comes even close. The Nineties seriously was the height of the animated series as an art form and The Tick embodies everything that was good and pure about that era.

Speaking of bipolar disorder, I currently have three new pieces for Being Bipolar on the burner… and I can’t figure out which one to run with next. Recent events complicated matters in terms of issue appropriateness, if anyone’s curious. I’m hoping to have a new one up real soon.

And no, I don’t mind laughing about my ...

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Yesterday evening the lovely and effervescent Kristen told me that she had composed a lil’ something for this blog. I had no idea she was working on this, but after reading it I couldn’t help but think that she expressed some things about bipolar disorder better than I have and maybe ever could. And she wants to write more stuff for this site, too! So expect more out of Kristen’s Korner from here on out.

So without further ado…

“My Bipolar Boyfriend”

First, I’d like to thank Chris for letting me borrow his blog. I don’t have the time nor the patience to keep up a blog of my own, but I do (on occasion) feel led to write, and requested a venue to share my thoughts.

Second, I’ll introduce myself. My name is Kristen Bradford. You’ve perhaps seen my name referenced in Chris’ entries, or even seen pictures of ...

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This is the sixth installment of an ongoing and admittedly irregular series on The Knight Shift about what it is like to have the mental illness called bipolar disorder. I am attempting this endeavor with candor, with honesty, and at times with humor. If you’re a new-ish reader of this blog you may wish to read the previous entries of Being Bipolar and check out the video supplements along with them. You don’t have to go back into previous essays in order to “get” what I’m writing about this time, but you are certainly invited to read them at your convenience 🙂

So it’s been awhile since I did an installment of Being Bipolar. Like, more than a year.

Much has happened since then. Mom passed away. There have been other family and friends that have also left us. But also, many new family and friends have come into my ...

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