Knowledge is Necessity

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

Occupy the World - I WIll Bring My Drum

“Several people pounded on drums.” - From a Sunday LA Times article, “LA marchers chant ‘We are the 99%’”, buried on page A37. I attended my first protest in the spring of 1969. I was just starting to grow my hair long. On a chill fall night several months...

Published Tue, Oct 18 2011 7:05 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, Occupy Wall Street, Ocupy LA, drumming

Rerun: Smart Meds Strategies - No, This Is Not An Oxymoron

From Feb this year ... Following is a chopped version of a new article on mcmanweb. The article, in turn, is based on three or four posts published here over 2009 ... During the first months of 2009, I ran three successive reader polls on my blog, Knowledge...

Published Sun, Oct 23 2011 3:16 PM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, smart meds

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

Three Pop Tunes Cultural Masterpieces

Great pop tunes truly speak to our innermost feelings and experiences, but we are hardly expecting a three-minute ditty to compete with Finnegan’s Wake. Then again - once in a blue moon - a song comes out of nowhere, totally unique, inviting comparisons...

Published Wed, Oct 26 2011 7:35 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, Neil Young, After the Gold Rush, Eleanor Rigby, Beatles, Ode to Billy Joe, Bobby Gentry

Secrets of the Universal Sisterhood Revealed: Part One - What Goes on in Women’s Rooms

I feel like Indiana Jones who has just discovered the Lost Ark, only this secret is far more significant and way more dangerous. The last person who attempted to reveal it “disappeared.” I won’t disclose how I came across this information. Let’s just...

Published Mon, Oct 31 2011 9:29 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, relationships, women's room

The Caveman and The Avocado: Figuring Out the Diet Paradox

I just blew up one of my old mcmanweb articles on eating right, and replaced it with a new one. Following is an edited extract: A 2003 journal article concluded that "the combined decline in mental health and the disappearance of traditional diets...

Published Mon, Nov 07 2011 3:31 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, eating, diet

Figuring Out Evil

I just started reading Barbara Oakley’s 2007 “Evil Genes: Why Rome Fell, Hitler Rose, Enron Failed and My Sister Stole My Mother's Boyfriend.” Trust me, this is a must-read. Dr Oakley is a bio-engineer, and in her past lives served as an Army private...

Published Tue, Nov 08 2011 1:42 PM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, evil, Evil Genes, Barbara Oakley

Figuring Out Behavior

I have been writing about mental health since 1999, but only with any basic level of understanding since 2003. That year and the previous one were watershed ones in our understanding of how genes and the environment interact to influence human behavior...

Published Wed, Nov 09 2011 12:10 PM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, Evil Genes, Barbara Oakley, behavior, Daniel Weinberger

Rerun: This Veteran's Day

I run this every Veteran's Day and Memorial Day: This Veterans Day: Our men and women are returning from two wars. They have witnessed things and felt things that those of us who stayed home have no clue. Their brains have been overwhelmed, their...

Published Thu, Nov 10 2011 4:01 PM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, mental illness, suicide, Veterans Day, veterans, PTDS, depression

Rebutting Whitaker: Not Such a Good Idea

In Oct last year, I begin a series of pieces based on Robert Whitaker’s shot heard ‘round the world, his 2010 book “Anatomy of an Epidemic.” Whitaker’s astonishing thesis is that psychiatric meds have been a contributing factor to the apparent global...

Published Sat, Nov 12 2011 6:38 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, Robert Whitaker, Anatomy of an Epidemic, William Glazer

Rebutting Whitaker: Not Such a Good Idea - Part II

On Saturday, I published a piece that said it is not such a good idea to claim to rebut (or for that matter refute or repudiate) Robert Whitaker and his 2010 book, “Anatomy of an Epidemic.” Not unless Whitaker happens to be a flat-earther making up his...

Published Mon, Nov 14 2011 11:19 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, Robert Whitaker, Anatomy of an Epidemic, William Glazer

Brain Science and Recovery - Knowledge is Necessity

My last two pieces - on psychiatrists behaving badly - diverted me from my true mission here at Knowledge is Necessity, namely providing food for thought in the quest of knowing thyself. A very key part of that is passing along any cool brain science...

Published Wed, Nov 16 2011 6:12 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, recovery, Evil Genes, Barbara Oakley, Daniel Weinberger, brain science

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

Rerun: Creativity - We Are Killing It Off; Hopefully There Will Be Enough Creative Thinkers Left To Rescue Us From the Disaster We Are Headed Into

From August, last year ... "I excelled at every subject just for the purpose of excelling, not learning. And quite frankly, now I'm scared." High school valedictorian Erica Goldson (pictured here) had the guts to speak out. In an address...

Published Tue, Nov 22 2011 10:45 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, creativity, Jonah Lehrer, Erica Goldson, How We Decide

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