Psychedelics are having a moment. However, they need to be taken seriously and not as a joyride as they become more available. Now there is an app and hotline called The Fireside Project that will help people have a safer experience while undergoing a therapeutic psychedelic session.
DetailsTen years ago I was drunk and doing drugs on the streets of Chicago. Today I am sober. I’m skydiving to commerate my journey to freedom from drugs and alcohol. I continue to live strongly with bipolar disorder, and I embrace the spirit of aloha, hanging on for dear life.
DetailsIt’s the sun’s fault. I curse the sun setting early starting in the fall! As days get darker and temps cool, I start feeling depressed and my energy is drained. It’s a phenomenon known as seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and it can be brutal.
DetailsMagic mushrooms might not only be consumed by crunchy followers of jam bands like Phish and Widespread Panic anymore. Turns out there’s more to “shrooms” than swirling kaleidoscope auras and Willy Wonka-like hallucinations. Researchers at Imperial College London have discovered that psychedelic mushrooms have properties that can significantly reduce depression.
DetailsI think I got my Catholic card revoked when I realized I was gay. I am a recovering alcoholic — nine years sober — and I feel the same way about Alcoholics Anonymous: that I’m a misfit, swimming in a snail-paced bureaucracy.
DetailsHumans are a complicated species. Everyone at some point must deal with hardship. We are all very vulnerable. And it’s OK to show our emotions. To cry when it hurts. To reflect. To change. Everyone can use a little help along the way. There is no shame whatsoever. And there absolutely should be no stigma.
DetailsThe new Netflix animated feature “The Mitchells vs. The Machines” — which came out just four days ago – is an amazingly clever and totally hilarious romp of a film that is scorching hot right now, already the most-watched movie of the moment on the streaming service. The film is wholeheartedly unique, daring to sing the praises of us folks who are different.
Detailst wasn’t a State of the Union speech because President Biden has only been in office since Jan. 20, but it sure did feel like one. Last week, on day 99 of his administration, Biden noted that he had exceeded the goal of 100 million vaccines in arms in his first 100 days, surpassing it with more than 200,000. He also celebrated the passage of the American Rescue Plan that made those shots in arms possible, and also put money in Americans’ pockets in order to rebuild following a pandemic that still rages on.
DetailsThe Biden administration announced last month $2.5 billion in funding for states to combat the urgent opioid and mental health crisis that has only exacerbated during COVID. proponents of what’s called “harm reduction” — think there is no one-size-fits-all approach to recovery.
DetailsPop singer Demi Lovato was six years sober when she overdosed on heroin and fentanyl-laced oxycodone in 2018. Now she’s made a music video recreating her experiences.
DetailsThe collateral damage from COVID-19 is here and more trouble is on the horizon.
Detailsloha is an ancient spirit that lives and breathes within the Hawaiian Islands. It exudes passion, pulsates with energy, and erupts with joy. It is encircled in light and undaunted by darkness. Aloha is love. Aloha is life. Aloha is empathy. And it’s a mindset that helps with my bipolar disorder.
DetailsNew Year’s Eve is a drunk holiday. Period. All of the beer gulping, wine quaffing, cocktail guzzling, and champagne toasting can be dangerous for we alcoholics. Some tips to staying sober this year.
DetailsThis song encapsulates a yearning for an end to 2020, a year that — as we all know — was plagued by coronavirus, financial strife, high unemployment, and more.
Details‘Tis the season to be very… thoughtful that is. This Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa season, what are some fabulous gifts for those who are coping with mental illness? I’ve got you covered. Video games are supposed to be good for your mental health, as I’ve reported. And the brand-new Playstation 5 is the hot-ticket item…
DetailsIn the past few decades, there has been scant focus on mental health. If the virus has taught us anything, it’s that we need to take care of our minds just as much as our bodies. Joe Biden has a plan.
DetailsMany doctors and therapists I’ve spoken with in recent days say that teletherapy is a necessity for those with mental health ailments that have only gotten worse as COVID rages on.
DetailsIt’s especially important for those of us with bipolar disorder or mental illness to constantly have something to look forward to. If we don’t, it’s easy to slip into a depression or worse. There’s been a lot of live music to be had during lockdown, and Metallica has been at the forefront.
DetailsIn the tempestuous realm of love and romance, to be curt: I’ve got baggage. I have bipolar disorder and I am a recovering alcoholic.As the character of Mimi sings in the musical RENT, “I’m looking for baggage that goes with mine.” Well, I think I may have found it.
DetailsAs the coronavirus rages on, it is extremely dangerous and enticing for recovering alcoholics like myself to pick up the bottle again. Alcohol has never been more popular. But for a select few, it is falling by the wayside.
DetailsMy second mixtape all you coronvirus music maniacs. Throw a dance party in your living room! While we’re not as deep as we were in lockdown mode, many of us are indeed still sheltering in place. Cut a rug!
DetailsI was drunker than a frat boy at a jungle juice party. Lollapalooza 2011 revisited.
DetailsI’d like to encourage you to masturbate. What? Yeah I said it. Masturbate. Spank your monkey. Choke your chicken. Season your meatloaf. Butter your muffin. Give yourself a hand. Why? Because it’s healthy. Masturbation is great for your body and your mind. It can lower blood pressure, improve sleep, and reduce stress.
DetailsDeaths are piling up exponentially throughout the globe. Most of the country is on lockdown. And many of us are experiencing extreme claustrophobia and high anxiety. But a cohort of mentally ill Americans are doin’ just fine.
DetailsAll of us are doing our part to help in our own unique way to lessen the blow of this lockdown. For musicians, who cant entertain you at a club or arena, it’s playing shows from their living rooms. Benjamin Gibbard is the hardest working man in music.
DetailsEven in ordinary times, I’ve been known to pump up the volume and dance around my apartment with glee. Now — in this time of lockdown — it’s your turn.
DetailsPop culture is your friend during this pandemic. Escapism is important.
DetailsIn the spring of 1995, I experienced my very first punk show. It was Rancid with the Lunachicks at the Metro in Chicago. I was 15. And in that crowd of about 1,000, I felt like I belonged. I had found my tribe. It was a moment that would transport me on a decades-long excursion, one that finds my punk rock heart still beating now and forever.
DetailsI never understood the absolute excitement and joy of politics until I became involved in Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s campaign. This race is having incredible impact on both my mood disorder and my outlook on life.
DetailsI have no thirst for alcohol. Today is my sober anniversary. Eight straight years of zero alcohol and zero drugs. I cannot fathom how I made it to this point. That’s two stints in college. My journey offers hope for anyone recently facing the challenge of staying sober.
DetailsIt’s time for Iowa Democrats to decide who they want to run against Donald Trump in the 2020 election. The first votes of election season will be cast this Monday at the Iowa caucuses. For those of us who care deeply about mental health plus addiction, there are two clear choices among the pack of 10 Democratic candidates still running: former Mayor of South Bend, IN Pete Buttigieg, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN).
DetailsOn average, adults stare at screens for a whopping 11 hours a day. What you choose to do with your free time may take a toll on your mental health.
DetailsMy book is perfect for the bipolar person in your life, whether it is you or a friend or family member who cares about you. Buy The Bipolar Addict to encourage empathy and understanding among parents and loved ones. Happy Holidays!
DetailsI don’t know about you, but the holidays are the toughest time for me to stay sober. Here are some tips to help you survive the holidays without relapsing.
DetailsDonald Trump is off-the-charts egotistical, arrogant, addicted to fame, erratic, unstable, and unpredictable. These are telltale signs of narcissistic personality disorder.
DetailsMusic is an intensely powerful and hellaciously galvanizing force. It fuels our existence, feeds the mind, and scorches the soul. Some of us get goosebumps when we hear our favorite music. In my case, I heard some live music recently that brought back some intense memories of an old boyfriend, who is no longer with us.
DetailsI’ve always felt like a Peter Pan type. Like I will never grow up. I am an eternal teenager. I turned 40 last week. I am doing my best to embrace it.
DetailsA Wonka Bar a day may keep the therapist at bay. I’m not kidding. A new study released last month says eating dark chocolate can help alleviate symptoms of depression.
DetailsWe are facing a massive mental health and addiction catastrophe in this country, and few 2020 candidates have built an action plan more robust than the treatment strategy proposed by Mayor Pete Buttigieg last week.
DetailsOregon will now allow students to take “mental health days” in the same way they can take sick days.
DetailsFlorida will now require all students to take mental health classes starting in the 6th grade. While the only requirement mandates only five hours of classes each year, the mental health community should view this as a welcome first step.
DetailsA humanitarian catastrophe continues to burn at the U.S./Mexico border with no signs of relief, images of abuse, splashed across our screens for months now. And we’re not even seeing the worst of it. Our government is hiding it. The conditions are so dire that it is clear that these migrants, including very young children and babies, will experience posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the future.
DetailsMental illness should be on the forefront of issues discussed in the 2020 campaign, especially given the opioid crisis. But mental health is not an issue that candidates in the 2020 race for president are being asked about very much on the campaign trail. Or in this week’s debates. On the contrary, all we’re getting is what the candidates volunteer. Out of 24 horses in the race, only a handful have discussed mental health.
Details7 years ago, I set out on a tumultuous journey, undertaking a spirit-seeking project thatfinally comes to fruition today. The Bipolar Addict: Drinks, Drugs, Delirium & Why Sober Is the New Cool is out now. And, after all this time and work, I can’t believe it.
DetailsIt was 50 years ago this month when police raided gay bar The Stonewall Inn in New York’s Greenwich Village and the LGBT community fought back for three nights of resistance. The event was the galvanizing foundation for the modern-day gay rights movement. On the first anniversary of the riots — in 1970 — the…
DetailsYou’re staring at your computer screen for hours and hours. You feel like you can’t type anymore. Or your mind feels numb from ringing up dozens of people at the cash register. No matter what kind of work you do, it’s the same feeling: Your brain is fried. Most everyone has experienced burnout at work, and now the condition is recognized as an official syndrome by the World Health Organization.
DetailsSchizophrenia is a mental disorder that causes confused thinking, the hearing of voices, hallucinations, delusions, unusual speech, abnormal activities, social emptiness, the lack of emotional expression, and other troublesome symptoms.
DetailsIt’s way past time to sound the alarm, but finally someone’s paying the price in the opioid epidemic. Doctors, pharmacists, and corporations who overprescribe or understate the dangers of pain pills are finally feeling the pain themselves.
DetailsDon’t be a half-witted, scruffy looking nerf herder. Enter to win!
DetailsAfter video game addiction was recognized as a disorder by the World Health Organization in 2018, some other studies and academic papers are showing that video games can actually be therapeutic.
DetailsToday is officially Star Wars Day! #MayThe4thBeWithYou In honor of today, I am giving away limited-edition Carrie Fisher #BipolarStrong coffee mugs as well as stickers to the luckiest people who preorder my book.
DetailsThere’s no longer a stigma about coming out as having bipolar disorder. It is becoming more commonplace to openly discuss mood disorders, as evidenced by the number of celebrities who’ve publicly disclosed their diagnoses. Bebe Rexha is the latest to come out.
DetailsMarijuana makes me paranoid. Irritable. I can’t leave the house if I am high or I will panic. A new study finds that THC, the chemical in marijuana that causes you to get stoned, in high doses and of high potency can cause psychosis.
DetailsAny traumatic experience can trigger PTSD, not just war. Sexual assault, child abuse, a car accident, or any excessively stressful event.
DetailsWith his trademark sky-blue Fender Mustang guitar and godforsaken, angst-ridden scream of a voice, Kurt Cobain mobilized a generation of freaks and geeks in the early ‘90s, knocking Michael Jackson off the top of the Billboard charts and chaperoning the mainstream into a new age of enlightenment fueled by punk and alternative rock. For Generation…
DetailsThis is our day. This is our moment. Let’s make it count. It’s time to raise awareness and fight stigma. Bipolar is beautiful!
DetailsAfter a psychotic episode in 2015, rocker Scott Stapp received a bipolar diagnosis. At the top of his game, Stapp was the leader of Creed, a popular hard-rock band in the late ‘90s that sold 10 million records. The rocker returns with a new single.
DetailsIt’s no secret that I suffer from seasonal affective disorder. The darkness that dangles over wintertime, in combo with the cold, leads to a depression that hovers over me throughout the season, exacerbating my bipolar symptoms. I don’t know if it was the light of day growing stronger that did it, or the new medication regimen I’m on, but I recently lifted myself out of an abysmal depression.
DetailsBritish electronic band The Prodigy announced that its singer Keith Flint had taken his own life, found dead in his home of Essex, UK, on Monday.
DetailsTonight at the Academy Awards, Lady Gaga won Best Song for “Shallow” from the movie “A Star Is Born.” But it was at the Grammys earlier this month that she shined a spotlight on mental illness.
DetailsA perfectionist strives for that which is flawless. Impeccable. Immaculate. My name is Conor, and I’m a perfectionist. I also have bipolar disorder.
DetailsWe who are bipolar may think our disorder is a strike against us in the relationship department, that no one would ever want to date someone who can have erratic moods. I’m here to tell you that stability is possible and, if you are on the right meds and receiving proper therapy, romantic love is achievable.
DetailsUp until my sobriety, I neglected my body and soul. I was an antisocial, inoperative sub-humanoid with stale-beer-odored dragon breath. My life was a cesspool, a puke-riddled pigsty and a hellhole of flotsam and jetsam. But all that, my dear readers, is in the past.
DetailsAs I’ve mentioned before, I have a beer gut, which is ironic since I quit drinking beer and all alcohol nearly seven years ago. But a bump in my belly is clearly pronounced. And my New Year’s resolution to get skinny again is off to a start.
DetailsI am mentally well: I maintain a typical 40-hour work week while raising two young children, traversing a marriage, pursuing a master’s degree in counseling, and volunteering in a hospice.
DetailsThe winter of 2018 featured a flurry of upstanding films exploring addiction — from Beautiful Boy to A Star Is Born and now Ben Is Back, starring Julia Roberts and Lucas Hedges. A glimpse into the world of addiction, Ben Is Back reinforces the idea that addiction is a family disease. The movie is also a testimony to how the opioid addiction can affect any community.
DetailsNote: This article contains information about self-injury, which can be a trigger for some readers. Trigger Warning. Nearly one in five teens have self-injured.
DetailsTimes were tough in 2018. The economy is on the brink of another recession. A scourge of mass shootings occurred. But there were some glimmers of hope.
DetailsGrating two-and-a-half cups of Gruyere cheese takes forever, but when you are either cooking or baking, there’s something about prepping a recipe that is soothing. You see colors come alive, you hear the sound of sizzling olive oil, you smell tantalizing scents like melted butter, you munch on ingredients as you go, seasoning your tastebuds.
DetailsI feel a lot of pressure. Pressure to take my meds and stay on them. Pressure to be a good son, brother, and uncle. Pressure to be a man. Pressure to conform and lead a healthy, happy life. It’s tough, but I’ve learned to maintain composure and grace among the people in my life, i.e. the normies, people who are not bipolar or mentally ill.
DetailsBeautiful Boy is haunting me. I can’t stop thinking about the film after seeing it in the theater alone this past Saturday morning. While I never did crystal meth, I used to do several hardcore drugs and Beautiful Boy forced me to revisit those terrifying memories.
DetailsCognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) combines talk therapy with a focus on thinking. Dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) patients diagram their feelings.
DetailsI used to be rail thin. Skinny jeans and all. Ironically, since getting sober seven years ago, I’ve developed what might be mistaken for a beer gut. It’s not drastic, but I have definitely changed from a small to a medium shirt thanks to my potbelly. At 5’7”, I weigh 174 pounds, which is considered overweight by body-mass-index standards. It was a rude awakening when I recently had to check the box for “a little extra” on the dating site OK Cupid.
DetailsWhen I was finally able to reach Ariel, she was in a nursing facility following a suicide attempt. The first night we spoke, we sobbed unintelligibly from either side of the line. We were both so scared. My heart was breaking and hers was already smashed. “I’m coming to see you tomorrow, OK? Is that OK? Can I come see you?”
DetailsThe opioid crisis is still a five-alarm fire, as I’ve said before, and it couldn’t be more palpable than in Florida, where over the last two decades “pain clinics” were popping up faster than Starbucks. The situation in Florida was so dire that one of the biggest manufacturers of OxyContin, Mallinckrodt, sent 500,000 pills to the state between 2008 and 2012 to keep up with demand, according to 60 Minutes. That’s enough Oxy to supply each and every citizen of Florida with 25 pills apiece.
DetailsHoliday music is like egg nog: They’re both great in small doses, but too much of either can make you sick. And when it comes to holiday tunes, a study shows that this is scientifically true.
DetailsSelena Gomez is the most followed Instagram artist in the world, with 144 million fans. But now she’s taking a break from social media because of what friends and family have called an “emotional breakdown.”
DetailsRanting rapid-fire for nearly ten minutes without interruption from the president, West dropped F-bombs on live TV and praised Trump for giving him a proverbial “Superman cape.” At one point he called himself a “crazy MF.”
DetailsAyahuasca is a plant known among shaman as the “vine of the dead,” and its adherents swear by its antidepressant, mind-expanding qualities.
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