- Come On Mates--this way for What's Up Down Under!

I. General Resources & Information

 Get an A*d*v*o*c*a*t*e!!!

ADVOCACY - If you live in the Perth metro area, please contact me. I'm trying to organise a project specific to Perth (the Advocacy Program itself is international, so everyone, please join in). Western Australia lags badly behind NSW and Victoria in terms of Mental Health Advocates and I think it's time we all got together and did something about that; don't you? Just email me or call (8)9315 9802. I have voice mail so you can leave a message and I'll get right back to you :)

 Diagnosis:    




1. What is bipolar behavior?
   
2. 10 symptoms of clinical depression.
3. What is the DSM-IV? The ICD-10?
   
4. Am I bipolar?
   
5. If I'm not bipolar then what am I?
6. Internet Addiction???

  Treatment:        

1. Temporary - hospitals & treatment centers
   
2. Long term - inpatient & outpatient
   
3. Types of treatment -
   
   a. Drug therapy
   b. Psychotherapy & counseling
   c. Electroconvulsive shock
   d. Art therapy
   e. The Internet as therapy
   f. Animals
   g. Nature as therapy
   
   
4. Some treatment concerns...(a bunch of them!)
   

  Patient/doctor relationship

 Shop-A-Doc Parts I and II.

1. The GOOD!
   
2. The BAD!
   
3. The UGLY!
   
4. The TERRIFYING!
   
5. How do I find a psychiatrist I can trust?
   
   

 Networking:  




1. Family & Friends
   a. Helping not hindering
   
   
2. Support groups (offline)
   
   
3. Online support
   a. FyrenIyce Online Email Support List - Open to all for now - sign-up quick while you can.
   b. Pendulum - (US based list - closed subscription at this time but may reopen)
   c. Walkers in Darkness - (Unipolar and bipolar support list)
   

II. When Life's A Crapshoot. . . 

  Self-medicating Behavior


1. Welcome to the rollercoaster
2. Name your poison (naming as an act of recognition)
3. Bipolars: Romantic Renegades
4. Personal tales and terrors

 Living & Surviving as a bipolar

1. Your friendly drugs
2. What are the side effects?     
3. The fear of losing yourself
4. 4 stages of bipolar grief
5. Experimenting
6. Writing down your story
7. Quit kicking yourself!
8. Knowing when to say when
9. Thinking Through Bipolar Illness -- Though a very important section, I've removed it from the website except for the following sample sections which are completed. Time constrictions have halted this project for now. It will be completed at some time in the dim future when I've the resources to give it the attention it deserves. My sincere apologies for any inconvenience :(
   
   

    Module 1 - Assessing Your Thinking Style
   

    Module 2 - Brain Blocks and Fallacies
   

 Bipolars Advise On Job Strategy

We need more advice ASAP! Won't you please share your expertise with others like yourself, or if you aren't bipolar, tell us how we can make it easier to fit ourselves into your business world.

There's a form there for you to do just that too, so no excuses!

III. Holding Hands With the World - Unity Equals Power!

 Mental Health Rights Are International Human Rights

1. State of the World

   U.S. Mental Health Parity Act -- Effective as of January 1, 1998.

2. Health Rights Organisations
    
Here's a few links to give you a taste of what's upcoming in this section.




 Bipolar Organisations Around the World

While the information provided here is intended for the Australian bipolar community and related english-speaking countries, some of the information may be useful to those from non-english speaking countries as well. Please follow the link for this section to check out our international resources page for possible manic-depressive information in your country. If you know of a comprehensive bipolar site in your country that isn't listed here, then please send the site information to me and I will add it as a link to this site. If you can send the URL site info in two or three translations then so much the better.


 Please Mail Me!   

Send me any information on groups offering services to Bipolar folks in your area of the world. Also, if you've any comments about improving this site, I'd appreciate your input.

IV. Madness & Creativity Pages (Continuously updated)

This dedicated space is for manic depressives (and others) to doodle, write poetry and song lyrics, display artworks, and tell stories. Come and see what wonders we create, but ...careful now, for Here Be Dragons...

Some Creativity Links to Check out Before You Go...

1. Manic-Depressive Illness and Creativity -- By Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison, from Scientific American. A must-read! Dr. Jamison, who is herself bipolar, is the leading expert in the field when it comes to this illness. She is widely published professionally, but two of her most accessible books are,The Unquiet Mind, and Touched With Fire: Manic- Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperment from which this article is an excerpt.
   
   
2. WriteBrain -- This is M H Source's E-zine where you'll find lots of wonderful stories and poetry by mental health consumers of varying sorts. Check it out.
   
   
3. Famous Bipolars -- A wonderful site! Joy Ikelman has put together an outstanding array of slightly different information including, of course, her famous people list linked here. Do give her a visit.
   
   
4. Juli's Bipolar Information Network -- This site contains the following two links on this list as well as a number of other interesting articles by the likes of Dr. Kay Jami son, Larry King, and others. Not extensive, but worth a peek.
   
   
5. That Fine Madness -- A story about the poet Virginia Woolf's final battle with bipolar disorder.
   
   
6. Virginia Woolf: manic-depressive psychosis and genius. An illustration of separation-individuation theory - By A. H. Bond - An interesting and disturbing psychoanalytic approach to the paradoxical, brilliant Virginia Woolf.
   
   
7. CREATIVITY AND THE TROUBLED MIND -- Article by Constance Holden published in Psychology Today, 1987.
   

   About Me...Such A STORY!