Mental Health
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
BYE, BYE, BLACKBIRD
No one gets through life without being hurt. To be human is to be hurt. All men and women have people or places that have negative associations. An offhand remark by a stranger or an acquaintance can resonate in our mind long after, years even, the unpleasant comment. A deed by a friend, a relative, […]
2Jul2014 | carlton | 1 comment | 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
The Living Room At Turning Point, Skokie, Illinois
A person with a mental health emergency will tell you that going to an emergency room of a hospital is to be avoided at all costs unless you have already undertaken a violent action like attempting suicide. Being bloody, vomiting, or violently striking out – then most likely you will be in the clutches […]
11Jun2013 | carlton | 3 comments | Continued
A New Review from Goodreads
Wendy‘s review Oct 14, 12 Read from September 21 to October 09, 2012 When I started reading this autobiography by artist/author, Carlton Davis, I thought it would be a gruelling read. It’s not nice reading about people with severe mental illness and self-destructive tendencies, right? Actually, Davis has such a great grip on life, the […]
15Oct2012 | carlton | 1 comment | Continued
THE PAIN IN MY BRAIN
A woman with the bipolar condition asked me if I got migraine headaches. At first I said no. Migraine headaches weren’t something I experienced. Then I thought about pain in my brain and how often I experienced it. I feel a severe and deep ache in my head when a massive depression is coming. I […]
13May2012 | carlton | 0 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
Laura’s Law & Kendra’s Law Bandages and Bondage
Laura’s Law and Kendra’s Law are, for anyone who has, has had, or appears to have a mental illness, scary legislations. These two laws inCalifornia and New York and copied by other states require a person to have psychiatric treatment when ordered by a judge after assessment by a mental health official. This is coercion […]
24Jan2012 | carlton | 1 comment | Continued
Chinky the Chinaman
Wop, Dago, Nip, Jap, Frog, Kraut, Mick, Limey, Polack, Kike, Raghead, Wetback, Gook, Chink, and the “N” word Nigger; we have all heard these words. They are derogatory, and laced with hateful meaning, but to pretend they don’t exist is the way to give them power. I recently watched a program on 60 Minutes, about […]
1Jul2011 | carlton | 4 comments | 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
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
Power to the Crazy People
INPP Conference, Manchester, UK July 16, 2010 Ninety year old Thomas Szasz, controversial psychiatrist and author of the Myth of Mental illness, was the keynote speaker at the INPP (International Network of Philosophy and Psychiatry) Conference in Manchester, UK, June 28-30, 2010. I attended and spoke at this Conference. When the conference ended I found […]
16Jul2010 | carlton | 7 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
Carlton Davis on Carlton Davis
I decided to google Carlton Davis to see who the name brought up. I was the fifth entry. The first entry is a photographer in New York City, who creates images of the most precise and detailed kind. He is a commercial photographer educated at the Rhode Island School of Design whose portfolio includes exquisite […]
29Mar2010 | carlton | 2 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
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
Disappearing on Seroquel
There are many drugs today advertised on TV for mental health issues: Cymbalta for depression, Abilify for Bipolar Disorder, and now Seroquel for Bipolar Depression. Have you seen the advertisement from AstraZeneca? People who are bipolar depressed are shown semi-dissolved into their backgrounds. A woman standing in front of a theatre marquee is half transparent […]
24Dec2009 | carlton | 46 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
The Question I get asked a lot
The question I get asked a lot is: Does medication affect your creativity? The answer I give is: It did before I became an advocate for myself. Many people with mental conditions like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia don’t want to take medications because the drugs dampen their creativity. They tell me medication makes them feel […]
4Sep2009 | carlton | 6 comments | Continued
The Gift of Bipolar Disorder
I have the gift of Bipolar Disorder; so it is believed did Leonardo DaVinci and Van Gogh, my mentors as artists and writers. For more than most of my life time, 20 years to be exact, I didn’t know I had the illness, and just thought I was different from other people. I was crazy, wild, and had periods of severe depression, […]
4Mar2009 | carlton | 42 comments | Continued
