Thanks to Jason Reynolds, who sent me an mp3 of a podcast interview with author John Gartner (pictured). Sadly, my tech skills are lacking, so I can’t post the mp3. But please do click below and listen to the interchange. It’s fascinating, and for those of us with loved ones who have hypomania, it helps explain a lot.
Total picture radio with Peter Clayton
liz | 4:31 PM | Uncategorized
Liz Spikol was born in Philadelphia sometime in the 20th century. She started writing about her experience as a person with mental illness in 1999, while employed at Philadelphia Weekly as the paper’s managing editor. Aside from serving as that paper’s web editor, music editor, staff writer, senior editor, executive editor and a host of other random roles that she couldn’t make up her mind about, she has also worked as a Spanish teacher, as a Certified Peer Specialist during Philly’s system-wide transformation and as a communications specialist for a prison reform organization. Currently, she works at the Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania and writes book reviews for PW. This blog — named one of the Top 10 Bipolar Blogs of 2007 and 2008 by PsychCentral — is about medications, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, OCD, PTSD, SAD (and many other acronyms), mad pride, Big Pharma, celebrities, hospitals, stigma and the recovery movement. And other stuff.
I didn’t listen to the whole podcast. I was too irritated. First, the lead-in to the interview was really offensive. Could they be more stereotypical in describing people with mental disorders?
Second, Gartner is a psychiatrist, correct? He states that hypomania is not an illness, but a temperament. Well, actually, hypomania is classified as a mood state, which is part of the larger illness, bipolar disorder. Most researchers draw a distinction between bipolar disorder and temperament.
Finally, what made me stop listening was Gartner’s insistence on focusing on euphoric hypomania. It also can be dysphoric. So Garnter’s description of hypomania as a happy fun time is dangerously misleading. What a shame. It’s bad enough when laypeople put out bad information. When experts do so, it’s disgusting.
Have you heard anything about the book “Shock” by Kitty Dukakis and Larry Tye. They were interviewed today on NPR and it was very interesting to hear her story. I sent along the URL http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6145727
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