A bipolar-related book I'd recommend

I recently received a copy of a book through my now-former employer (a newspaper) that I wanted to share with you guys.

"Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me" is a memoir about having bipolar disorder that's done in the form of a graphic novel. It's so unique compared to the other memoirs I've read. Normally I'm not one for graphic novels, but this one, of course, drew my eye because of the topic.

The author, Ellen Forney, is a cartoonist, so it's pretty logical that she'd want to turn her memoir into something graphic instead of just text. I love her artwork, and her story. It's sometimes funny while at the same time taking a serious look at what she's going through.

Here's the official summary:

"Shortly before her thirtieth birthday, cartoonist Ellen Forney was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Flagrantly manic and terrified that medications would cause her to lose creativity and her livelihood, she began a years-long struggle to find mental stability while retaining her passion and creativity. Searching to make sense of the popular concept of the crazy artist, she finds inspiration from the lives and work of other artists and writers who suffered from mood disorders, including Vincent van Gogh, Georgia O’Keeffe, William Styron, and Sylvia Plath. She analyzes the clinical aspects of bipolar disorder as she struggles with the strengths and limitations of a parade of medications and treatments. Darkly funny, intensely personal, and visually dynamic, Forney’s graphic memoir provides a visceral glimpse into the effects of a mood disorder on the artist’s work. Her story seeks the answer to this question: if there's a correlation between creativity and mood disorders, is an artist's bipolar disorder a curse, or a gift?" (http://marblesbyellenforney.com)

Below are some examples of the art you'll find inside. (Click them for a larger view):

 

Click here to buy the book on Amazon: Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me: A Graphic Memoir




If you haven't already checked out my blog where I track the books I'm reading, click here: http://yepireadbooks.blogspot.com/

Updating my blogroll

Since I've been pretty much M.I.A. for months, I'm going through my blogroll (down the right side of the blog) and removing old dead links.

If you have a mental health-related blog or other blog that you feel would be beneficial to my readers, leave a comment on here, and I'll add you.

Bipolar disorder tied to mother's flu in pregnancy

By Reuters 

Children born after being exposed to the flu during pregnancy may have a nearly four-fold higher risk of later developing bipolar disorder, according to a small new study.

The senior researcher said the results can't prove that a mother's bout of flu while pregnant causes her child to develop the mental disorder, but the association does suggest that some cases might be prevented.

"The idea is that if influenza is playing a causal role - and we can't say that from one study - there is a vaccine," Dr. Alan Brown, a professor of psychiatry and epidemiology at Columbia University in New York, told Reuters Health.

"It's affordable and also I would argue that there are other things that pregnant women could do. For example, hand washing and staying away from people with the flu," Brown said.

Previous studies had already established a link between a mother's flu infection while pregnant and her child's increased risk of developing schizophrenia, a severe mental disorder that often comes with hallucinations, delusions and paranoia.

Bipolar disorder shares some traits of schizophrenia, but also differs because it includes alternate cycles of mania and depression - although one type of bipolar diagnosis involves mania alone.

Past research into the link between people's risk of bipolar disorder and their mother's flu has produced mixed results, Brown and his colleagues write in JAMA Psychiatry.

For the new study, Brown's group looked for a connection between flu exposure and children's bipolar diagnoses in data from a study that involved soon-to-be mothers living in Alameda County, California, between 1959 and 1966.

Using the mothers' medical records and follow up information about their children, the researchers had information on 92 kids who were exposed to the flu while in the womb, and on 722 who were not.

Of the children exposed to the flu, about 9 percent were later diagnosed with bipolar disorder. That compared to about 3 percent of the kids who were not exposed.

"What we found is that (schizophrenia and bipolar disorder) share at least this in common. Maternal influenza is related to bipolar disorder," Brown said.

He added, however, that they did not see an association between bipolar disorder and a mother's common cold or other upper respiratory infections.

And until more studies are done, Brown said he and his colleagues can only guess at what is behind the link between flu and bipolar disorder.

"We think there is an inflammation going on in the fetus due to this infection and it can alter key aspects of brain development and function," Brown said.

Battle with Binge Eating, Major Depression a Constant Fight

Shanna Dayton

By Shanna Dayton 
Yahoo! Contributor Network 

As far back as I can remember, I've struggled with binge eating. When I was a kid I used to wake up extra early to binge on cookies while everyone else slept. I used to keep a candy stash in my room which I was constantly refilling. It didn't help that my parents showed affection buy supplying unlimited amounts of food.

I kept my binge eating somewhat under control until my husband killed himself in 2009. One day I was a wife and the next I was a widow at 29 years old.

The first two years after his death was a blur. I was comfortably numb while selling all of our things and looking for an apartment as our Milwaukee, Wis., home was being foreclosed on. When the dust settled I soothed my neglected feelings with food.

I would challenge myself to see how much food I could eat in one sitting. Gorging myself became a game. I developed favorite binge foods: cheesecake, ice cream, chocolate chip cookie dough, chips and onion dip, doughnuts, chocolates, pizza, cookies, and honey barbecue chicken wings. I would get so excited on my way to the grocery store it felt like I was high on a drug. I would even start eating in the car on the way home.

I would eat until I felt like I was going to die maybe I even wanted to die. My stomach would hurt so bad I would cry. I would be so disgusted with myself I would throw all of the leftover food away. A few hours later, when I was feeling better, I would dig the food out of the trash and start eating again.
This behavior continued for two more years until I broke down and confessed to my gynecologist during a yearly exam. I told her I couldn't keep doing this to my body and I needed help. I was having chest pains and at 5'2" I was nearing 220 pounds. Over the next year we tried several different antidepressants causing awful side effects.

Now I see a psychiatrist for medication management and I have been given an official diagnosis of binge eating disorder and major depression.

I've tried therapy in the past, but I like to think things out alone instead of talking to a stranger so I'm learning to treat myself through trial and error. Besides my antidepressant, taking extra vitamin B has greatly improved my mood. I keep all of my trigger foods out of the house. I'm still working on finding the middle ground between binging and dieting. I also struggle with consistent exercise.

Each day I have to mentally fight the cravings to binge. Win or lose I keep fighting.


NOTE from Jennifer: If you're struggling with an eating disorder, call the number below, or click the image to get information on how to get help:

When Teen Dating Turns Abusive and Violent

By HealthDay 

When teens start dating, parents' worries grow -- and experts say that dating violence should be on their list of concerns.

"Dating violence happens, and it's more common than we think," said Dr. Yolanda Evans, an assistant professor of pediatrics in the division of adolescent medicine at Seattle Children's Hospital. "We need to talk to teens about it."

Nearly 10 percent of teenagers experience some form of violence in their dating relationships, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dating violence encompasses physical, emotional and sexual abuse, the CDC notes. Physical acts include such things as hitting, shoving, pinching and kicking Emotional abuse could be threatening a dating partner or harming the person's self-worth by bullying, shaming, name-calling or isolating him or her from friends and family. Sexual abuse involves forcing someone into sexual activity that he or she doesn't want to participate in and includes sexual activity teens can't consent to because they've been drugged.

Beyond the immediate effects of violent relationships, longer-range impacts loom. A study in the January issue of Pediatrics found that teens who had experienced dating violence were more likely to binge drink, smoke, have depression symptoms, think about suicide and experience additional intimate partner violence than were their peers who'd never experienced dating violence.

Teens who've been abused by their boyfriend or girlfriend are also more likely to do poorly at school, to experiment with drugs and to have an eating disorder, according to the CDC. Those abused in high school are more apt to be abused in college as well.

Often, though, abusive behavior starts with teasing and name-calling, which teens may see as a normal part of a relationship but which, according to the CDC, can lead to more serious violence, such as hitting or rape.

Nancy Diaz, a domestic violence consultant who has provided services to Outreach in New York City, said that when she explains verbal abuse to teens, many think it's just normal conversation. Often their own mothers, who may be young, have spoken to them in just that way. "It's the cycle of violence," Diaz said.

If a teen girl slaps a teen boy, the boy often says it's not abuse because it doesn't hurt, but Diaz explains that it is. She said that some gangs initiate girls by forcing them to have sex with all of the gang's members. "That's rape, but the girls don't think of it as rape," Diaz said.

For parents, protection starts with knowing the person their teen is dating. "Invite them in, or offer to drive them somewhere," Evans said. "Just make sure you know who they're connecting with."
Discovering that abuse is occurring can be hard, but "watch out for social isolation, withdrawal from friends and activities," Evans said. "Look for sores, bruises or scratches, and check out what they're doing on social media like Facebook and Tumblr."

Diaz said that a girl's sudden change in the way she dresses also could be a sign of abuse. She might be covering hickeys, or her boyfriend might want her to dress differently so that she doesn't attract other boys.

"Are they home earlier? Constantly texting?" Diaz asked. "I've heard of a boyfriend who wanted his girlfriend to have the webcam on her computer on all the time so he could see what she was doing. That's stalking."

Both experts recommend being upfront with your kids, but not confrontational. "Say, 'I've noticed that you're home a lot more. How is John treating you?'" suggested Diaz. "Have a conversation and try not to judge. Let your teen know that they can come and talk to you no matter what."

And Evans stressed the importance of keeping communication lines open. "The more you talk to your teen and are open with them, they'll know it's OK to come to you," she said. "Tell them if they ever want to talk, you're always there for them. And, let them know if they want to talk to other adults in their life, that's OK, too."

Whether a teen's school can help, however, may not be certain. Researchers reported in the August issue of Pediatrics that more than 80 percent of U.S. schools had no protocol for helping teens who were experiencing dating violence. Still, 61 percent of school counselors said that teens had approached them for advice about dating violence.

NOTE from Jennifer: If you or someone you know is getting abused, please get help. As a survivor of  abuse myself, I know what the lasting effects of it are. It won't get better unless you do something to make it better. Call the number below, or click the image to be taken to a page with more information on getting help.

 

Mother's Day

Today's Mother's Day, so it's no surprise that all the Post Secret cards are about mothers. I don't talk about my mom enough on this blog. I should because she's awesome. She's been a mom when I needed a parent. She's been a friend when I've needed a friend. She's been a therapist when I've needed to talk. She isn't perfect, but she's always there.

This first card stuck out to me the most. My mom has often been the only reason I've stopped myself from suicide. There have been tons of times when I've almost killed myself and the thoughts of how it would affect my mom and of how much my mom loves me have kept me alive.