[fishsandwich]

This article was in The Guardian today:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...-mental-health

I'm posting it here because it's where I hang out most. Also, because I want to plug his book about psychosis, What is Madness
http://www.amazon.co.uk/What-Madness.../dp/0241144884

Which he plugs here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/20...ness-interview
And here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...lth-psychology

Thanks for the article fish. I've been reading Jim Phelps book about soft bipolar and undiagnosed bipolar which is really good. I've read loads of journal articles that back up a wider reaching bipolar disorder than currently exists in the DSM IV. In fact Kraepelin originally described manic depression as including recurrent unipolar depressive episodes. I asked my pdoc what her opinion was and she said she was a "purist" who only diagnosed bipolar after an obvious manic episode (so presumably she ignores bipolar II?) It's not so much that I want a change in diagnosis, as a chance to try a different class of medication.

Anyway the 'What is Madness' book looks really interesting. Will see if I can get a cheap copy somehow.

*Willow*

[fishsandwich]

Wider-reaching than DSMIV? Really?!? It's incredibly broad as it is . . .

I was diagnosed with bipolar before sz. Now that I look at it, I think it's my hormonal cycles. I'm feeling really guilty right now because I bought more stuff than I can reasonably afford (makeup, clothes). I *always* do that in the week I have my period. Then I have a week of extreme productivity where I'm also uber-psychotic, then a week of OCD where I clean everything and am scared of germs and the house exploding and when I often smell gas/think there's poison in my food/decide to diet, then two weeks where I want to kill myself and everything is shite, then . . . well, you know, cycle repeats I hate it. I have almost no control over it. But it's not bipolar, I don't think.

[fishsandwich]

And the book is good, but don't spend money on it if you can avoid it. The first and last bits are the best; in the middle he gets bogged down in psychoanalysis stuff that I don't really understand and mostly think is a load of crap.

Jim Phelps has his own website psycheducation.org if you're interested in reading more about how broad reaching he goes. Most of the book is on the free website. The guardian article was a little short-sighted I thought. These categories are arbitrary so not everyone fits nicely into the boxes. Although I agree too that we shouldn't be diagnosing normal mood swings as 'mental illness'. IDK, it's very complicated I think.

*Willow*

[fishsandwich]

Thanks, I'll go have a read.

I never really like articles in the Guardian, actually. A lot of times, I think the Guardian prints slightly controversial stuff to rile their readers up a bit.

I've seen that author speak before (he's a colleague of my therapist) and he's much more level-headed when he has more time to talk or space to write. I think it would have been a good thesis (the bit about the bipolar explosion being linked to expiring patents) if he had actually talked about that. My guess is that he's about to start promoting a new book and just wants column inches with his name on them.

[faerie_moon_x]

I'm usually on the bipolar board and saw the title of this, and this is odd to me, because my mood swings are the least of my problems when it comes to bipolar. Sure I have depression and i have dysphoric mania, and it isn't any fun. But the things that really bother me about having bipolar are the fact that I seem to be losing my ability to function.

The obsessive racing thoughts that can last weeks on end, the slow but steady loss to my memory, losing my skills such as grammar and spelling and the ability to focus and read (I couldn't read the whole article even,) after having always been such a great writer and an avid reader... not being able to get my life in order. Everything around me becoming a huge mess, and me sitting there thinking I'm totally in control of what I'm doing at the time, only to look back later and see how I was just bumbling blindly along. And it's not that I don't want to get organized and that I don't try, it just doesn't seem to happen. Everything is like sand slipping through my fingers.... These are the types of things that get me.

If it was just mood, I think I could handle that a bit better.

And no, these are not side effects to medicine, as I'm not in treatment, and only have taken meds for 1 year out of my life 2 years ago.

[fishsandwich]

Dark Heart, I don't know much about bipolar (and don't care for labels) but aren't the racing thoughts and lack of concentration a "sign of mania" according to the diagnostic manual?

Originally Posted by fishsandwich

Thanks, I'll go have a read.

I never really like articles in the Guardian, actually. A lot of times, I think the Guardian prints slightly controversial stuff to rile their readers up a bit.

I've seen that author speak before (he's a colleague of my therapist) and he's much more level-headed when he has more time to talk or space to write. I think it would have been a good thesis (the bit about the bipolar explosion being linked to expiring patents) if he had actually talked about that. My guess is that he's about to start promoting a new book and just wants column inches with his name on them.

Yeah it would be interesting to hear more about that, but it seemed to make a few good points but never really elaborate on them. Would've been interesting to read the full thing rather than the published edited version.

Originally Posted by dark_heart_x

I'm usually on the bipolar board and saw the title of this, and this is odd to me, because my mood swings are the least of my problems when it comes to bipolar. Sure I have depression and i have dysphoric mania, and it isn't any fun. But the things that really bother me about having bipolar are the fact that I seem to be losing my ability to function.

The obsessive racing thoughts that can last weeks on end, the slow but steady loss to my memory, losing my skills such as grammar and spelling and the ability to focus and read (I couldn't read the whole article even,) after having always been such a great writer and an avid reader... not being able to get my life in order. Everything around me becoming a huge mess, and me sitting there thinking I'm totally in control of what I'm doing at the time, only to look back later and see how I was just bumbling blindly along. And it's not that I don't want to get organized and that I don't try, it just doesn't seem to happen. Everything is like sand slipping through my fingers.... These are the types of things that get me.

If it was just mood, I think I could handle that a bit better.

And no, these are not side effects to medicine, as I'm not in treatment, and only have taken meds for 1 year out of my life 2 years ago.

That's the thing dark_heart. It's not the mood thing that's the problem, is it?! I tell my pdoc all the time that if I was just miserable then I wouldn't be bothering them. It's the complete inability to function. The fact that my brain just simply won't work properly. I was actually tested recently and my IQ has dropped since being depressed because of a major problem following written material and responding appropriately and quickly enough (the skill had a fancy name but I can't remember it, sorry). I have to edit what I write with screen-reading software so that it makes sense, and I struggle reading even with the screen-reading software. I only skimmed the article (I only skim most things these days unfortunately - used to LOVE reading too!) too.

*Willow*

[newtus]

bipolar is so vague to me. it seems like anyone and everyone could be bipolar. considering if you have just ONE manic episode you can be dxd as bipolar.

[faerie_moon_x]

Originally Posted by WeepingWillow23

That's the thing dark_heart. It's not the mood thing that's the problem, is it?! I tell my pdoc all the time that if I was just miserable then I wouldn't be bothering them. It's the complete inability to function. The fact that my brain just simply won't work properly. I was actually tested recently and my IQ has dropped since being depressed because of a major problem following written material and responding appropriately and quickly enough (the skill had a fancy name but I can't remember it, sorry). I have to edit what I write with screen-reading software so that it makes sense, and I struggle reading even with the screen-reading software. I only skimmed the article (I only skim most things these days unfortunately - used to LOVE reading too!) too.

*Willow*

Exactly, Willow! I skim pretty much everything unless it is short enough or laid out in a very specific way. I wanted to be a writer. Now I struggle to find words. Sometimes I forget how to make the letters or numbers when writing and not typing. I wrote 1:00 with the 1 under the 0s

0
0
1: pm

^Like that, and I just stared at it knowing it was wrong but it took me a minute to realize why. Then I just wanted to cry. But instead took a picture of it with my phone as "proof" I gues.

[fishsandwich]

Originally Posted by WeepingWillow23

Jim Phelps has his own website psycheducation.org if you're interested in reading more about how broad reaching he goes. Most of the book is on the free website. The guardian article was a little short-sighted I thought. These categories are arbitrary so not everyone fits nicely into the boxes. Although I agree too that we shouldn't be diagnosing normal mood swings as 'mental illness'. IDK, it's very complicated I think.

*Willow*

He seems well-meaning and well-argued . . . but I have a difficult time accepting anything that starts from the assumption that "mental illness" is biological/genetic. It's just too unproven for me to accept any theories based on it.

ETA: The thing I like about Leader's work is that he accepts that this stuff might be biological, but until we can prove it he works at a more general/practical level.

Well Phelps is a psychiatrist so he has to believe that really or he has to admit that he's just throwing darts at a dart board hoping something will stick

*Willow*

Originally Posted by dark_heart_x

Exactly, Willow! I skim pretty much everything unless it is short enough or laid out in a very specific way. I wanted to be a writer. Now I struggle to find words. Sometimes I forget how to make the letters or numbers when writing and not typing. I wrote 1:00 with the 1 under the 0s

0
0
1: pm

^Like that, and I just stared at it knowing it was wrong but it took me a minute to realize why. Then I just wanted to cry. But instead took a picture of it with my phone as "proof" I gues.

Yeah I do silly things like that too. It's so frustrating. I feel like I'm really stoooopid because my brain just won't work the way it used to

*Willow*

[fishsandwich]

Originally Posted by WeepingWillow23

Well Phelps is a psychiatrist so he has to believe that really or he has to admit that he's just throwing darts at a dart board hoping something will stick

*Willow*

There are psychiatrists who do admit that! And I admire them for it.

Originally Posted by fishsandwich

There are psychiatrists who do admit that! And I admire them for it.

My uni pdoc is one of those lol

*Willow*

[fishsandwich]

Then I don't understand why he made you drug yourself.

Originally Posted by fishsandwich

Then I don't understand why he made you drug yourself.

He didn't make me per se, just put me between a rock and a hard place. He said if I wanted to stay in uni doing medicine then I had to take meds, but it was obviously my choice to take meds rather than leave uni at that point (even though I did leave about 7 months later of my own accord). I think it was the uni's position on fitness to practise, because if anything happened then he would've been held accountable because he ok'd me. IDK. I've gotten over that unpleasantness now, and realise that he's better than the one I have now (or any of the others) who's so passive and doesn't give a crap. I feel like I'd have to do something obscenely extreme for her to pay me any *real* attention rather than the 'oh right (total blankness)...anywho lalala' I get at the moment. Does that make sense?

*Willow*