Lunch with my friend Gayathri

I just had lunch with my friend Gayathri. She is one of the most amazing people I know. She moved here from India in an arranged marriage over 20 years ago and just wrote her story in a new memoir.  She had a lot of depression and anxiety when she was growing up. She moved to America with her new husband and a lot of expectations.  Her descriptions of what it was like to go to a grocery store for the first time are amazing: “I never knew there were so many types of cereal!”

Gayathri and I became friend through NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) seven years ago. We have been friends ever since. Isn’t it great when you meet someone who understands what it’s like to have a mental illness? We have our own language. That is how I feel after I speak to a large crowd and I talk to people afterwards and I get to meet [ Read More ]





Posted on December 12th, 2010 | Tags: , , , | Category: Uncategorized

Bipolar Disorder Management Secret….. an answer (not THE answer, but an answer!)

It’s often hard for people with bipolar disorder to know what is reasonable and what is unacceptable. If you’re born with a certain kind of brain- it makes you say and do things that are normal to you. For example, people with bipolar disorder get stressed a lot more easily than the general population. They get more angry- cry more- try to kill themselves more- and definitely get higher than anyone without the illness when it comes to mania.

But that is natural behavior for us! It’s not ok and it’s certainly not a very productive way to live- but it’s what our brains do. So it makes sense that we will all have to learn what is reasonable and acceptable. How can you stop behavior that is unacceptable and non productive?  I have found an answer that took me a long time to master, but I’ve kept at it for 10 years and it’s [ Read More ]





Bipolar Disorder – 10 Tips for Friends and Family Members

Let’s start out with a story about cabbage. (A conversation between my mom and myself) Mom: Why don’t you put some cabbage on your salad? Julie: I want to have cabbage on my salad but it is just too hard to do it. Mom: Julie! It’s too hard to have cabbage? What is your problem? Julie: It’s not just cabbage, Mom! It’s getting it out of the fridge. Taking off the old leaves, finding a place to cut it, making sure the knife is clean, slicing it, putting it on the salad and then cleaning up the cutting board. It is too much right now. Mom: It really is just cabbage, Julie. Why does everything have to be so hard for you? Julie: Mom. It is not a *normal* thing! It is not a cabbage thing. It is a*bipolar* thing. It is an overwhelmed thing. It has nothing to do with cabbage. Things are hard [ Read More ]

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Posted on September 28th, 2007 | Tags: , , | Category: Family and Friends