bipolar

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For those wondering about this blog’s Being Bipolar series, I haven’t stopped it at all. Just been trying to figure out what to write about next: something that I’ve changed my mind about something around 18 or 19 times now. ‘Course, having bipolar disorder can sometimes be the worst impediment to writing about it, ironically. Hoping to write the next installment sometime this week or next.

In the meantime though, new research has been published about a possible cause of bipolar disorder, as well as schizophrenia…

Broad sweeps of the human genome have exposed genetic mutations that boost the risk of the devastating yet baffling diseases of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, according to two studies published Sunday.

The independent studies, each conducted by a consortium of about 200 scientists, also found significant genetic overlap between the debilitating mental disorders.

Schizophrenia patients typically hear voices that are not real,

...
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Apparently some quarters are rumormongerin’ that this blog has been hacked, that I’m in the hospital, that I’m really missing, stuff like that. Which makes me giggle quite a bit, that my blogging is so closely watched that when I’m absent from it, it becomes cause for alarm 😛

Okay well, as much as the mischievous little “id” creature deep within my nature loves that sort of thing, I’m gonna come clean and be honest about what’s really been going on behind the scenes here. It’s the sort of business that in recent past I would have kept to myself, but since in the past year I’ve gone so much on record about it…

The truth is, that for the past few weeks I have been experiencing an episode of bipolar depression. And it has sucked darn nearly all of the passion and motivation out of me.

I’ve been writing ...

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Making a new video supplement wasn’t something that I’d had in mind to do late last night, but… just had some things on my mind that I felt led to share.

This is the first Being Bipolar video that I’ve made with my iPad. Still playing around with figuring everything out, but that’s why the aspect ratio is more vertical than horizontal with this segment. Next time I’ll know better 🙂...

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Just before this past Christmas, Bob Buckley from Fox 8 WGHP interviewed me for a segment of the Emmy-winning The Buckley Report, dealing with my coming out about having bipolar disorder on this blog. Here’s the link to that first story. A couple’o weeks ago he and Fox 8 photojournalist Chris Weaver (who also has an Emmy notched on his belt!) came back and filmed a follow-up story about the direction that I’ve taken since then: the Being Bipolar series, and the video supplements that I’ve used to chronicle and document what it’s like to have a bipolar episode.

Well, it just aired on this evening’s Fox 8 News 10:00 News and lo and behold it’s already on the Fox 8 website!

Here’s the direct link to the segment.

And look! Embeddable video thingy!

 

Good job Bob and Chris! Hope that this snags y’all another ...

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I can’t understand why it is so…

Why it is that some people, can choose to get drunk, or get high on some kind of drug, and the substance abuse causes them to veer out of control and to do horrible things to the ones closest to them. And yet if they want it, more often than not they do find forgiveness and reconciliation and restoration if they hit rock bottom and come to their senses and acknowledge that they have to stop and take responsibility for their actions.

I’ve known lots of people who have been in that kind of situation, and I have seen God bring them back to the ones they love.

And then, there are those who have a mental illness… like bipolar… and it leads to actions that are just as destructive, because the person is just as uncontrollable. But as in my own case, ...

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Well, that’s what it feels like at times.

In the most recent installment of Being Bipolar I shared how I lost my faith in God because of some things that should never happen to anyone. And then over the course of many years how I found God again and came to have a relationship with Christ. That has been almost fifteen years ago and I am thankful that more times than not, I do appreciate that I have done my best to seek after Christ with all my heart, with all my soul and with all of my strength and, yes, with all of my mind.

Two nights ago I opened up and shared the hurt that I was feeling about a person who had been close to me telling me that I had to “pay the consequences” because of bipolar disorder: a mental illness and medical condition that I ...

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Why am I writing about having bipolar disorder? Well, for one thing: I have it. And since this blog is about me and my thoughts and comments and adventures, the honest and genuine thing to do is to chronicle when my thoughts go full-tilt whacko beyond my control.

And I’m a writer. I write about what I know. This year marks the twentieth anniversary of me writing for publication. It sure didn’t occur to me back then that someday I’d be running a fairly popular blog (I think the total number of websites on the Internet in 1991 were something like five or six) and that my most heartfelt topic was having a mental illness. But as a wiser person than I told me years ago: “Life is what God does to you when you’re busy making plans”.

And as I’ve said before: if what I’m doing now, can save ...

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And once more I understand why some people are driven to commit suicide because of bipolar disorder. Because, death does seem a much preferable thing to what can only be called “anti-life”.

I have been trying to compose the next installment of Being Bipolar. My mind has arrested me from doing that and from having interest in most of the other things that I enjoy in my life. My thoughts are on a seemingly non-stop cycle of nothingness, if that makes any sense.

So what am I doing to alleviate it? I’ve taken my medication and I’ve spent some time just trying to let my thoughts run their course (because eventually it does peter out enough to let me be productive again). Other than that, there’s not much else that can be done.

I’m leaving Wednesday afternoon, for a short trip. Gonna be at that same film festival in ...

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