I know what you mean. Sometimes I've genuinely felt better during the long phases where I haven't been involved with any meds or therapy. Sometimes just living normally and avoiding medicalising things really is best.

Agreed. My psychiatrist eventually decided that I have far fewer side effects from self medicating with caffeine and alcohol than I ever had on SSRIs, SNRIs and potentially mood stabilisers.

Sometimes they can put you down a few dosages for a couple of months, then move back up again. Sort of a medication holiday. What you really don't want is to be placed on the highest dosage then taken off it too quickly. Especially in winter, let me tell you...

She's a psychologist, although she's an honourary member of a psychiatric department. Again, I think Touched with Fire did a disservice to most mood disorder sufferers.

No, although a writer I know claimed that SSRIs prevented him from working, so he stopped taking them. On saying that, he also claimed that being happy while unmedicated did the same thing. That's not to say that what he produces while miserable is in any way publishable.

I agree. I have a friend with asperger's and he spent a solid month in a psychiatric hospital before being diagnosed. He takes antipsychotics now, which seem to help, but his own theories (which he spends a lot of time developing and sending to experts) still seem to verge strongly on the delusional side. It's not as…

That's another good point; the brain becomes resistant to medication that works. You can move up a dosage, but eventually you need to come off it, then start again with something new. Sometimes a person might only get a year or two before that happens.

I hope so. On saying that, I also hope she sues some of the magazines and websites that were willing to exploit her illness. TMZ especially.

He doesn't go on to explain, although I think he's referring to the higher rate of mental illness in farmers. The profession is strongly linked to depression, alcoholism and suicide, since the market is so unpredictable and then there's crop failures and so on. It's the sort of gamble that someone 'reckless' with…

I don't know. Statistically prisoners have lower IQs than non prisoners, yet mental illness is rife in that population. Plenty of 'stupid' people are depressed; they just tend to waste away on alcohol and drugs without penning a miserable memoir.

Having an episode, of some sort. Or drugs.

I think this falls under the same category as Amanda Bynes. You know, stuff we shouldn't be gawking at. '#takesomemeds' indeed...

I don't know. The chances of someone with chronic frequent episodes getting into a leadership position (without needing a lot of time off work/education) seems quite low. However, someone who experiences infrequent episodes could probably manage it.

Agreed, and yes - directed at the books. There's just been a load of them in recent years.

It also bothers me that these historical diagnoses are entirely guesswork. Given that it can take at least a solid decade to be diagnosed as a living person, with years of medical evidence, it seems a bit like bollocks. You know, as if someone with a biography to sell thinks 'This'll cheer up the crazies! This week…

Wait, are you saying that when we dismiss trollish comments, we may in fact be dismissing Roseanne Barr? Now I'll need to think twice about it...

You're making it sound like North Korea. Except they don't even have the internet.

There are a few books which aim to portray bipolar disorder as 'the genius disease'. It's certainly true that a lot of creative people throughout history suffered from serious mental illness. However, the vast majority of sufferers are severely incapacitated. Only a tiny fraction of people with bipolar disorder are…

I think you typo'd tumblr.

They don't absolutely need a science writer (given the large percentage of fluff articles) but they could at least take on a fact checking intern with a background in it. A happy medium.