medicine

Chris Knight's avatar

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

— Maya Angelou

Edit 02/14/2011 2:18 pm EST: A friend let me borrow a book not long ago. It’s called When God Winks At You. It’s filled with stories of many people – including a number of celebrities – who experienced extraordinary coincidences and twists of fate that made them realize something: that God is watching over us. It’s a very good book, and it written in a style that reads pretty quickly.

Ever since reading it, I have been praying that God might wink at me, too. And give me that personal assurance that “Chris, I know you are going through a very dark and difficult time. But I love you! I won’t quit on you or abandon you. You are My child and ...

Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

This is the fourth installment of an ongoing series exploring what it means to live with bipolar disorder. Reading the previous essays is recommended, but not absolutely required for understanding this one, which deals with depression associated with bipolar and how it differs from normal depression. But if you choose to take the time to read the other posts in this series, I for one would be grateful 🙂

It took a very long time for me to go outside after Granny died.

It was the last Saturday in March of 2000. Our Boy Scout troop was camping for the weekend in some woods east of Reidsville. The winter that year had been harsh. Worse than anything we’ve had in recent seasons. After too many weeks snowed-in we were all ready for some fresh air and wide open space.

It was green. Very green. And so warm outside. All full ...

Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

I was wondering over the weekend if this might happen. And unfortunately, it has now. I am writing and posting this video during a bipolar depressive episode.

I need to reiterate something: managing bipolar disorder doesn’t mean that I’m going to be totally free of its effects. There will be times when I go through episodes of severe bipolar. But I am thankful that it doesn’t have to ruin my life as it has before.

I said last week in the first Being Bipolar video supplement that I intended to document a bipolar episode if and when it happened. This is the first bipolar depressive episode that I have been able to record. I don’t think there’s anything in this clip that most people would at all consider “disturbing” but, I wanted to give a heads-up about all the same…

And Part 4 of Being Bipolar should be up later ...

Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

This is the third installment of an ongoing series exploring what it means to live with bipolar disorder. If you have not done so already it is highly recommended that you read Part 1: “The Tale of the Two Chris Knights” and then Part 2: “Sketching Uniquiet”. Don’t worry: this chapter will still be here waiting for you 🙂

In Part 2 of this series, “Sketching Unquiet”, I wrote about what bipolar disorder is as a medical condition, and then I attempted to roughly approximate what it’s like to live with it on a daily basis.

In the week and a half since publication I’ve re-read that installment of Being Bipolar at least a dozen times and the more that I do, the more I can’t help but feel led to ponder and expound on it further. Now don’t get me wrong: Part 2 was the best that ...

Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

The series that I have recently begun, “Being Bipolar”, is picking up some intense interest. I posted Part 2: “Sketching Uniquet” late last week. Meanwhile Part 1: “The Tale of the Two Chris Knights” has become the most-visited page on the blog over the past several days.

During the weekend I made the decision that for the next few installments of the series at least, I am going to refrain from reading any other scholarly material about bipolar disorder. Why? Because I’m trying to honestly and accurately portray and convey my own struggle with bipolar disorder. And well, guess you could say that I’m afraid that I might “cross contaminate” my experiences with those of others. But no doubt I’ll be delving into the research sooner than later.

The first thing that I plan to read is An Uniquet Mind, the memoir of someone whose name has come ...

Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

This is the second installment of an ongoing series about living with bipolar disorder. It is well advised that if you have not done so already that you read Part 1: The Tale of the Two Chris Knights before proceeding with this chapter…

There are two difficulties that arise when writing about bipolar disorder, as one who must live with and manage the condition.

The first is: My own experiences and struggles with bipolar should not be taken by those reading this series as being one hundred percent “typical” of everyone who suffers from bipolar disorder. Neither should it be considered as professional opinion or diagnosis for your own medical purpose (there, that should stave off the malpractice lawyers ‘cuz this blog has already seen way more legal nonsense than most…).

The best physicians in the world will tell you: Just as every person is his or her own unique ...

Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

ADVISORY: What you are about to read contains lots of unpleasant information. I can’t apologize for any misconceptions that will soon be shattered about Yours Truly. This is, to the best of my understanding, the honest truth and 100% accurate. If you’re okay with seeing the dark side of mental illness in un-embellished detail, then read on. If not, there’s plenty of other material on The Knight Shift to enjoy. But I wouldn’t be writing about this at all if I didn’t believe with all of my heart that I need to do this, regardless of what others might think of me. That said, I do hope you will press ahead…

A week and a half ago was the most very wonderful Christmas of my entire life.

It wasn’t completely “perfect”. One or two details were lacking that would have been the ideal “cherry on top”. But the snowfall made ...

Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

Chris Knight showed his creativity in one of the first Youtube videos to go viral. But there was another, darker side that he struggled to contain.

Last week Bob Buckley from WGHP Fox 8 came to my house along with photojournalist Chris Weaver to interview me about my recent public disclosure on this blog about my having bipolar disorder. We filmed about an hour’s worth of material (and Chris got some terrific outdoor shots with his cinematography skillz :-).

The story aired last night during the Fox 8 News at 10 as a Buckley Report feature. A lot of people have told me since its broadcast that it turned out great and that hopefully it will bring encouragement to others suffering from bipolar (which, is one of the reasons why I felt led to write about it on my blog).

Here’s the story, in case you missed it last ...

Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

Oscar the cat lost most of his back legs in a harvester accident this past fall. But thanks to some British researchers Oscar is now enjoying a fully functional life complete with two fore paws and two faux paws!

Popular Science has more about Oscar: the world’s first bionically-enabled feline. It’s thought that the technology will soon be applicable to human patients.

And here’s some video of Oscar strutting his stuff!

He just needs some adamantium claws in his front paws and he’ll be all set 😛...

Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

Anakin Skywalker, also known as the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader, has a “borderline personality” described as “a prolonged disturbance of personality function in a person (generally over the age of eighteen years, although it is also found in adolescents), characterized by depth and variability of moods.” So sayeth a group of French psychologists who studied the Star Wars villain and found that he suffered from severe mental illness.

According to the study which will soon be published in the journal Psychiatry Research, Darth Vader was examined per the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSMV IV). Of the nine borderline personality disorder criteria, Anakin/Vader fulfilled six of them. Five are required by the DSMV IV to be diagnosed as suffering from the disorder.

From the article…

For instance, the future Darth Vader showed both impulsivity and anger management issues

...
Read more