Mood Disorder

Mental Health @ Home book review: Safe, Wanted, and Loved by Patrick Dylan

Book Review: Safe, Wanted, and Loved

Safe, Wanted, and Loved by Patrick Dylan is a memoir about the author’s wife’s experiences of mental illness, how that affected the family, and the difficult journey in the direction of recovery. The book’s powerful opening line is the author’s wife, Mia, saying “Pat, I am going to prison.” At that point, she was first …

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Seasonal affective disorder (depression/bipolar with seasonal features)

What Is… Seasonal Affective Disorder

In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychological terms. This week’s term is seasonal affective disorder. Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a subtype of depression or bipolar with symptoms that occur based on a seasonal pattern. It was first described in 1984 as the result of an American study of mostly …

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brain glowing with electrical charge

This One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest: ECT in Real Life

Ask anyone of a certain age what comes to mind first when they hear the term electroconvulsive therapy (aka ECT, aka electroshock therapy, aka shock therapy), and chances are they will mention the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest starring Jack Nicholson. The reality is very different.

Mental Health @ Home book review: The Ups and Downs: A Bipolar Picture Book

Book Review: The Ups and Downs: A Bipolar Picture Book

The Ups and Downs – A Bipolar Picture Book by Kat Owens is an adult-oriented picture book, although there’s no “adult” content and it would be very appropriate to help younger people understand bipolar disorder. The author aims to show the ups and downs of everyday life with bipolar. She herself lives with bipolar II. …

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The Emerging blogger series on Mental Health @ Home

Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder Explained (Guest Post)

In this emerging blogger post, Emma from Mental Health Matters writes about what it’s like to experience premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD). Hello, my name is Emma and this is a piece I wrote for my blog in 2018. Since writing this article, I have found a treatment that is helping me. I have a disease …

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Book Review: Bring Me To Light

Bring Me To Light: Embracing my Bipolar and Social Anxiety by Eleanor Segall describes her journey with mental illness, from pre-diagnosis through her work on recovery. It’s written in clear, simple language, making it easy to understand for readers with no background knowledge of mental illness. She begins by talking about her Jewish heritage and …

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cannabis plant leaves

Cannabis & Mental Illness: What Does the Research Say?

Cannabis—it’s a plant that’s well known for getting people high, but it’s also become increasingly accepted for medicinal purposes, particularly for pain and nausea. But what do we know about the interaction between cannabis and mental illness? There’s been a clearly established link between cannabis use and triggering the onset of psychotic illness in people …

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What Is... Series (Insights into Psychology)

What Is… Ultra Rapid & Ultradian Cycling in Bipolar Disorder

In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychological terms. This week, we’re looking at ultra rapid and ultradian cycling in bipolar disorder. Before we get into that, let’s take it down a notch and consider rapid cycling, which describes the frequency of switching between mania/hypomania and depression in bipolar disorder. …

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Book Review: Bipolar Me

Bipolar Me by Janet Coburn explores her journey with bipolar II disorder.  The book is made up of blog posts, which are divided into chapters based on theme.  The chapters cover topics like the symptoms of bipolar disorder, the “med-go-round”, times of struggling, dealing with social situations, and broader societal issues.  Each post is pretty …

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