Manic-depression
MENTAL ILLNESS DOES NOT DEFINE ME
I refuse to be defined as mentally ill. It is not my vocation. I am someone who has a mental illness, but that doesn’t define who I am. It is a condition of who I am. I am an artist, an architect, and an author, and I have dealt with my bipolar disorder for most […]
23Dec2022 | carlton | 0 comments | Continued
Vraylar Vagaries & Verities
A great pile of aluminum foil-wrapped sandwiches surrounds the manic mother who stands at her kitchen counter atop a pyramid of playing cards in beautiful suburbia. Bipolar I Disorder could topple her reality, perhaps smothering her in ham sandwiches, but there is a solution in Vraylar, a drug from Forest Laboratories Holdings Ltd, an Allergan […]
24Aug2018 | carlton | 0 comments | Continued
Love and Isolation
“8 Habits of Love” is a book by the Reverend Ed Bacon, rector of All Saints Church, Pasadena, California, where I am a member. I don’t consider myself a total Christian, since I have not accepted the divinity of Christ. I like what he preached, and I am a committed Vipassana Buddhist, but I find […]
18Nov2013 | carlton | 13 comments | Continued
OF TWO MINDS, The Conversation Starter
I am one of the four featured persons in the film OF TWO MINDS. I feel very honored to be in this film by Doug Blush and Lisa Klein. The honor comes from the fact that as Alice Boyce Ph.D. says in her blog review of the film on Psychology Today (http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/in-practice/201208/two-minds-new-documentary-film-explores-life-bipolar-disorder) the film is […]
29Aug2012 | carlton | 3 comments | Continued
“OF TWO MINDS” premiered at the Cleveland Film Festival
Can I who am featured in the film“OF TWO MINDS” write a review of the film? I can’t write a typical review because my viewpoint is colored by my closeness with the film. My plan is not to so much to rate the film –although I believe it to be extraordinary-, but to speak of […]
24Apr2012 | carlton | 0 comments | Continued
Unhinged by the Epidemic of Mental Illness
“The central question of what variables drive the pathophysiology of mood disorders remains unanswered……….It is therefore no surprise that we know almost nothing definitive about the pathophysiology of mental illness — the surprise is that we know anything at all.” From Unhinged, The Trouble with Psychiatry — A Doctor’s Revelations about a Profession in Crisis, […]
2Nov2011 | carlton | 1 comment | Continued
Mad Sisyphus – New Thoughts on an Old Book
“Madness,” by Marya Hornbacher, was published in 2008. It was a New York Times best seller at the time, but now it has faded to 300,000 in book sales on Amazon. It’s only 100,000 higher in sales than my own book, “Bipolar Bare,” which as a self-published work did not have the backing of a […]
20Apr2011 | carlton | 3 comments | Continued
Let me shoot you I’m mentally ill
The Tucson shooter is giving mental illness a bad name. He joins the list of killers who are identified as mentally ill: the shooter at Virginia Tech, the kid gunmen at Columbine, the targeter who nicked President Reagan, and a whole host of others going all the way back to the Texas Tower marksman, and […]
15Jan2011 | carlton | 0 comments | Continued
Magic Mental Meds Make Me Mad
Psycho-medication is so confusing; it is enough to drive you crazy. Some of these meds can actually cause you to become nuts. For example, Effexor (venlafaxine) by Pfizer can bring on mania in a bipolar person and Abilify (aripiprazole) by Bristol-Myers-Squibb can give you suicidal thoughts. These are just a few of the possible side […]
23Dec2010 | carlton | 0 comments | Continued
On Tom Wootton and Bipolar in Order
09/26/10 Tom Wootton is an engaging and provocative author and public speaker on the issue of Bipolar Disorder. I listened to him speak in Pasadena, California on September 15, 2010. I found myself totally engaged by the theory he puts forward that Bipolar Disorder can be converted into “Bipolar –In- Order.” This is a state, […]
28Sep2010 | carlton | 3 comments | Continued
Seesawing on the Bipolar Coaster
Seesawing on the Bipolar Coaster- Riding the Edge of Madness with Two Minds Imagine a Teeter-totter with a person on both ends and combine it with a roller coaster. This is the experience of bipolar people. They ride up the escalator and plunge down the descent seesawing back and forth. At the summit they rise […]
17Sep2010 | carlton | 4 comments | Continued
The Attacks of the Black Brain
The attacks of the black brain start with losing something. Usually it is my keys or my wallet, but it could be anything misplaced or forgotten: a passport, a phone, a book or just a place I can’t find. I feel stupid and frustrated. I will tear up my household looking for the lost items, […]
25May2010 | carlton | 0 comments | Continued
I think I am better than I am
Grandiosity is a symptom of Bipolar Disorder. When manic I get very grandiose. I think I am better than I am. I liken myself to the great Leonardo Da Vinci. He like me was a writer, artist, and architect; and some say he was bipolar also. Maybe that is why he was so slow in […]
1Apr2010 | carlton | 3 comments | Continued
Interview with David Oliver of Bipolar Central
Carl Bipolar Success Story 3-11-10 On February 26th, Carlton Davis was interviewed by David Oliver. The interview is attached.
11Mar2010 | carlton | 0 comments | Continued
The Attack of the Inanimate Objects
Inanimate objects attack me. Doors, tables, chairs, toilet seats, vacuum cleaners, keys, wallets, tools, cars, and computers – to name just a few of my enemies – have it out for me. They sneak up on me. They lurk in the shadows to obstruct my way. They refuse to cooperate. The small objects lose themselves […]
8Mar2010 | carlton | 10 comments | Continued
Author on Blogtalkradio/Chris Teece Show
Carl Davis appeared again on Blogtalkradio. This time on the Chris Teece Show. The link to the show is: http://blogtalkradio/chris-teece/2010/02/03/Authors-spotlight-bipolarbare-author-carltondavis
4Feb2010 | carlton | 0 comments | Continued
Dr. Jekyll and Mrs. Hyde
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson , who supposedly wrote this novella under the influence of cocaine, strikes me as a perfect metaphor for the states I became under the influence of my magic potion, crack cocaine; except that my Hyde was not male, but female. […]
2Feb2010 | carlton | 6 comments | Continued
The Two-minded Self
The Two-Minded Self This is an old article I wrote, which I have been thinking about lately. “For that person must not suppose that a double minded man unstable in all his ways will receive anything from the lord.” I came upon this passage in the Letter of James in the Bible […]
6Jan2010 | carlton | 6 comments | Continued
Bipolar Disorder ain’t a joke
Sometimes I forget how serious an illness Bipolar Disorder is. My life has been going well the past five years. No major attacks of mania. No racing thoughts. No grandiosity. No horrible depressions. No trips to the hospital for “tune-ups.” When I was first in recovery those “tune-up” visits were a regular occurrence when the […]
5Dec2009 | carlton | 0 comments | Continued
