Knowledge is Necessity

Didgeridoo Festival!

I recently returned from three weeks off the grid. Four days of it was spent sharing a tent with my special someone at a didgeridoo festival deep in the Oregon woods. In the film business, they call this an establishing shot. We woke up to the sounds...

Published Thu, Aug 23 2012 5:35 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Fort and the Three-Leaf Clover

Book III in the series ... In the land of Ar, on the eve of day of the Festival of the Indecisive Moon of Indeterminate Phase, Fort Maker of Fine Hardwood Didgeridoos hastened into the village, breathless with excitement. “A three-leaf clover!” he shouted...

Published Tue, Aug 28 2012 11:03 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Bullshit Mountain Explained: Why You Can't Reason With Republicans - Part III

The biggest problem with the denizens of Bullshit Mountain, is they act like their shit don't stink. If they have success, "they built it". If they failed, the government ruined it for them. If they get a break, they deserve it. If you get...

Published Wed, Sep 26 2012 8:05 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Newt the Borderpath: Making the Case that Psychiatry is Not Allowed to Make

Picking up where we left off ... Thanks to “the Goldwater Rule” embedded into the code of ethics of the American Psychiatric Association, it is unethical for psychiatrists to “offer a professional opinion unless he or she has conducted an examination...

Published Tue, Jan 24 2012 9:13 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, Barbara Oakley, Newt Gingrich, borderpath

See the Man with the Stage Fright

The life of a writer is much like that of a weather observer at Advance Base in Antarctica in the winter of 1934, but without the snow and all the social distractions. The reference is to Admiral Richard Byrd, who spent five months completely on his own...

Published Sat, Dec 03 2011 7:38 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, NAMI San Diego, stage fright

Illustrating Depression and Bipolar

As most of you who follow this blog know, at the beginning of this year I essentially blew up mcmanweb and started over. The site was in serious need of an updating, plus a facelift. My first phase involved a complete redesign, together with rewrites...

Published Thu, Dec 15 2011 4:25 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, bipolar, depression, mcmanweb

Antipsychotics - Wonder Years to Cynicism

I've spent the last three days updating and rearranging three of my mcmanweb articles on bipolar meds. Following is an edited extract from a much longer new article on antipsychotics ... The Wonder Years Antipsychotics were discovered by accident...

Published Fri, Jun 24 2011 11:31 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, antipsychotics, bipolar meds, Robert Whitaker

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

Quick Update

Yes, I'm still here. Yesterday, I drove a visiting family member to the airport. Tomorrow, I'll be the one flying out - to Sacramento and three days of NAMI CA. I'm hoping to get off a couple of blogs on the road. Plus I have a whole backlog...

Published Tue, Aug 16 2011 6:29 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Rerun: Thinking of Going Off Your Meds? - You Need to Read This First

Going off meds may be a sensible and responsible personal decision for you - with the emphasis on sensible and responsible. Tragically, too many of us opt for crazy and irresponsible. Whatever choice you make, first you need to be reading my friend Judy's...

Published Thu, Aug 04 2011 11:09 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, Going off meds, Judy Eron, What Goes Up

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

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

Meaning and Purpose: Part Two

In Part I of Meaning and Purpose, we discussed turning our strengths and virtues into a calling. A number of years ago, I had pause to reflect on this back when I was on the board of a local mental health group and we were deciding on recipients for our...

Published Wed, Feb 27 2019 1:02 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Crossing the Threshold

From a chapter of the recovery book I am working on ... February, 2017: I pull into a paid campground on the Colorado River, separating California from Arizona. I’ve spent a good deal of the day driving east from the Salton Sea in southern California...

Published Thu, Feb 21 2019 4:59 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

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