Knowledge is Necessity

The Book of Fort: The Two Wise Old Fools

Book II in the series ... At the watering hole, along the barrens of Fey, on the fork of the road leading to Mem in one direction and Ar in the other, the wise and righteous Fort encountered a weary stranger in threadbare garments. And although Fort would...

Published Wed, Jan 25 2012 10:48 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, Book of Fort

The RIght Med for the Right Brain - Not There Yet

Yesterday’s piece, Brain Science and Recovery, ran through a list of some of my favorite psychiatric genes, which - quite ironically - may signal the end of psychiatry as we know it. The exercise sent me back to my old notes, from an eye-opening session...

Published Thu, Nov 17 2011 12:57 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, psychiatric diagnostics

Nora Volkow: Stress, Mood, Drug Abuse, and the Brain

Yesterday featured a piece based on Nora Volkow's talk to the 9th International Conference on Bipolar Disorder several days ago. Dr Volkow is the head of the National Institute on Drug Abuse and manages to moonlight as one of the world's leading...

Published Wed, Jun 15 2011 5:02 PM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, brain, Nora Volkow, mood, drug abuse, stress

Nora Volkow and Brain Networks

At this year’s International Conference on Bipolar Disorder held in Pittsburgh, a whole session was given over to Nora Volkow (pictured here), head of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. As well as overseeing a high-profile agency with a $1 billion...

Published Tue, Jun 14 2011 2:54 PM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, Nora Volkow, resting state functional connectivity

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

Happiness, Meaning, and Service to Others: Part II

It’s been a very busy week or two for me. We’re putting the final touches together for our annual NAMI San Diego Inspirational Awards Dinner next week, plus I’m preparing for a talk I will be giving the night before. Thankfully my work on the Dinner gave...

Published Fri, Sep 30 2011 4:21 PM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, meaning, happiness, service

Columbus Day Reflections

Happy “There Goes the Neighborhood Day.” Before Christopher Columbus crashed the party on this day 519 years ago, the people who really discovered America were doing just fine. This comes out loud and clear in two books: Jack Weatherford’s 1989 “Indian...

Published Wed, Oct 12 2011 5:14 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, Charles Mann, Jack Weatherford, Columbus Day, American Indian

A Mental Health Patients' Bill of Rights

Smitty wrote: “What does it take to be a great or even good psychiatrist? What are our criteria as patients? What are the criteria that psychiatrists value to be good, even great?" Kathy added: “I would really value an exploration of Smitty’s questions...

Published Tue, Oct 25 2011 7:06 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, mental health patients' bill of rights

Rerun: Lost!

In keeping with this week's spiritual theme, another blast from the past ... “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." I love that passage...

Published Sat, Sep 24 2011 5:19 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, Lost, stuck in recovery

The Ghaemi Conversation: Why We Need to be Asking the Questions

This is my fifth installment in our conversation on Nassir Ghaemi’s “A First-Rate Madness: Uncovering the Links Between Leadership and Mental Illness.” My previous post made note of the fact that two myopic scribblers posing as NY Times reviewers trashed...

Published Tue, Aug 30 2011 4:01 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, A First-Rate Madness, Nassir Ghaemi, NY Times

The Child Bipolar Diagnosis is Under Attack - Yet Again

It’s the silly season again, when people who attack the child bipolar diagnosis come out in force. Trust me, any time a child is labeled with a very serious lifetime psychiatric condition is always cause for concern, but the operative word is “concern...

Published Thu, Jul 28 2011 1:55 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, child bipolar

Ghaemi's A First-Rate Madness: The Conversation Heats Up

This is my fourth installment in our conversation on Nassir Ghaemi’s “A First-Rate Madness: Uncovering the Links Between Leadership and Mental Illness.” In times of crisis, Ghaemi tells us, we don’t send in someone chronically normal to do a crazy man...

Published Wed, Aug 24 2011 6:01 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, A First-Rate Madness, Nassir Ghaemi, Mallon, Maslin

R.I.P. "Antipsychiatry," the Term

Following is a piece of a comment posted yesterday by KA on mcmanweb: ... No one is saying "anti-psychiatry is right" because anti-psychiatry isn't a belief system. It can't be right. It's an open-ended criticism. Skepticism is not...

Published Fri, Jan 06 2012 1:06 PM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, antipsychiatry

Reality Intervenes: The Case for Meds

Yesterday, in a piece entitled, We Can All Get Along, Can't We?, I wrote: Psychiatry and its over-reliance on medications is experiencing a current self-inflicted lack of respect. This is occurring at the same time as Big Pharma is pulling out of...

Published Fri, Jan 13 2012 8:54 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, bipolar meds, Maricela Estrada, Bipolar Girl

Incompetence in Psychiatry: Readers Weigh In

“What percentage of psychiatrists do you think are incompetent?” I asked in a reader poll that ran some six weeks during December and January. Framing my question negatively carries the strong risk of encouraging rotten tomatoes responses and thus undermining...

Published Wed, Jan 18 2012 6:13 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, psychiatric incompetence

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