September 2011 - Knowledge is Necessity

Understanding Schizophrenia

Psychosis gets nearly all the attention in schizophrenia, but that is not necessarily its most prominent feature, according to Cameron Carter of UC Davis (pictured here). Dr Carter keynoted the NAMI CA convention in Sacramento about two weeks ago. Rather...

Published Thu, Sep 01 2011 6:27 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, schizophrenia, schizophrenia prevention, Cameron Carter

Lincoln and Depressive Realism

The following is my fifth installment in our conversation on Nassir Ghaemi’s “A First-Rate Madness: Uncovering the Links Between Leadership and Mental Illness.” Chronically normal may be an indulgence we can afford when the country is running on autopilot...

Published Mon, Sep 05 2011 6:40 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, A First-Rate Madness, Nassir Ghaemi, depressive realism, Joshua Shenk, Lincoln

Relationships: My Bottom Line

Today I am going through the final run-throughs of a talk I will be giving tomorrow (Sept 8) to the International Bipolar Foundation, here in San Diego. The talk is on relationships. I’ve experienced the challenges of living with others from both sides...

Published Wed, Sep 07 2011 5:11 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, bipolar, relationships

Phil Ochs: An American Tragedy

Two or three hundred years from now, when historians look back on the events that set in motion America’s fall from preeminence, they are certain to take a very close look at the 1960s. You can almost split that decade right down the middle - hope and...

Published Fri, Sep 09 2011 3:26 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, There but for Fortune, Phil Ochs

Rerun: My Good Friend Kevin

In honor of World Suicide Prevention Day ... Seven years ago, I was facilitating a DBSA support group in Princeton, NJ. In walked Kevin, exuding a goofy charm, baseball cap on backward. But there was something about his presence that indicated he was...

Published Fri, Sep 09 2011 5:02 PM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, kevin Greim, suicide prevention

Rerun: Guest Blog - Trying to Comprehend Loss

In honor of World Suicide Prevention Day ... At age four, Nancy Rappaport's mother took her own life. Her just-released In Her Wake: A Child Psychiatrist Explores the Mystery of Her Mother's Suicide (Basic Books) explores the author's own...

Published Fri, Sep 09 2011 5:01 PM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, In Her Wake, suicide, Nancy Rappaport

Rerun: Two Suicide Prevention Videos

In honor of World Suicide Prevention Day ... This week is National Suicide Prevention Week. I produced both these videos more than three years ago. The first, "Brilliant Lives Cut Short," I did with the iMovie program that came with my new iMac...

Published Fri, Sep 09 2011 5:00 PM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, suicide prevention

Rerun: Death of a Healer - Ron Urquhart

Another post in honor of World Suicide Prevention day ... This is a terribly difficult piece to write. Last week, I Googled the name of someone I had known two decades ago, while living in a different country, in what seemed a different lifetime. All...

Published Sat, Sep 10 2011 5:09 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, suicide prevention, Ron Urquhart

There but for Fortune

Another post in honor of World Suicide Prevention Day. Yesterday, I reviewed a documentary on Phil Ochs, the sixties folk singer/political activist who tragically wound up hanging himself at age 36. Richard O’Connor, author of the 1997 classic “Undoing...

Published Sat, Sep 10 2011 5:01 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, Phil Ochs, suicide, Richard O'Connor

Jill Bolte Taylor's Stroke of Insight

Jill Bolte Taylor was a 37-year-old Harvard neuroanatomist about to arise for another day at work. Her brain had other ideas. A piercing pain struck her behind the left eye. A blood vessel had just exploded deep inside her cortex, spewing blood into the...

Published Mon, Sep 12 2011 7:56 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, Jill Bolte Taylor, My Stroke of Insight

More on Jill Bolte Taylor's Stroke of Insight

This is the third in a series of posts on Jill Bolte Taylor, author of “My Stroke of Insight.” In 1996, at age 37, Dr Taylor suffered a stroke that left her essentially a helpless infant in a woman’s body. Her recovery took eight years. As I reported...

Published Wed, Sep 14 2011 11:35 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, Jill Bolte Taylor, My Stroke of Insight

Rerun - This Just In: We Are Sheep

I first ran this in Oct 2009. It's even more relevant today, for reasons you have probably already figured out ... The events leading to this blog piece started out as a joke. A good friend of mine dropped “dihydrogen oxide” into a conversation. Call...

Published Thu, Sep 15 2011 3:54 PM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, Penn and Teller, dihydrogen monoxide, mob psychology

A Short Snippet

This little snippet dates from about ten years ago. I recycled it in my book that came out in 2006. Enjoy ... Many spiritual beliefs teach us we pick the lives we're born into, and many times I have played the scene in my head, of me a half century...

Published Tue, Sep 20 2011 5:38 PM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, God, snippet

Rerun: Job and Me

It's been a very busy week from me, and next week will only get busier. So time for some reruns. This week, we're keeping to a spiritual theme. This particular blast from the past represents the third or fourth piece I wrote, a month or two after...

Published Wed, Sep 21 2011 7:01 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, Job, healing

Rerun: Exegesis

In keeping with a spiritual theme this week ... "Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep." Paul was on a mission, literally a mission from God. His first two Letters...

Published Thu, Sep 22 2011 7:10 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, exegesis, Paul, Second Corinthians