Invisible Deaths
Seriously mentally ill (SMI) refers to untreated people with schizophrenia orsevere bipolar disease. Fifty per cent do not know they are sick so they will not start orcontinue medications. These…
Parental Divorce of Children with Bipolar Disorder
I posed a question on a closed advocacy group for mental illness with about 5,000 members. I asked respondents their experience with divorce among couples of adult children with bipolar…
Death with Dignity Act (DWDA) and Physician Assisted Dying (PAD)
This is the first chapter of an exhaustive book I am writing about the Death with Dignity Act (DWDA), Physician Assisted Dying (PAD) and Physician Assisted Euthanasia (PAE). The title is…
Is Manic-Depressive Disease Really a Spectrum?
The following are my thoughts and do not represent the views of any other persons or organizations. After meeting so many friends on-line, by email, text and in person with…
Op-ed Submission for San Francisco Chronicle: Newsom’s Mental Plan
50% of those afflicted with a Serious Mental Illness (SMI) do not realize or accept that they are sick. 80% have the worst of the schizophrenic spectrum disorders and 20%…
My New Book: An Anthology of America’s Marginalized, Volume 1
I am excited to announce the upcoming publication of my latest book, An Anthology of America’s Marginalized, Volume 1. The book explores the challenges and struggles of oppressed groups in…
Tardive Dyskinesia
TD is characterized by repetitive, involuntary, purposeless movements. Features of the disorder may include grimacing, tongue protrusion, tongue movements within the mouth. The more classic TD symptoms are lip smacking,…
Tardive Dyskinesia
TD is characterized by repetitive, involuntary, purposeless movements. Features of the disorder may include grimacing, tongue protrusion, tongue movements within the mouth. The more classic TD symptoms are lip smacking,…
What is Ketamine and How Should this Drug Be Used
I have just read a book titled Ketamine for Depression by Dr. Stephen J. Hyde published in 2015. He makes it clear that Ketamine should be considered main line treatment…
Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath 1932 – 1963 You the reader must think I have a fascination for artists who had depression or bipolar disease whose life ended in suicide. You are absolutely…
Kurt Vonnegut – Another Artistic Genius with Bipolar Disease
While reading Slaughter House Five and Breakfast of Champions I began seeing in his writing a suggestion that Vonnegut might have major depression alone or more likely bipolar disease. At my…
Is Elon Musk Bipolar
So is Elon Musk bipolar? Elon Musk’s persona has been described in the lay press recently. He is described in many ways but one. Why not say what it is?…
Homelessness Revisted
Since my first article I have learned much by reading the news on many newspaper outlets. These last two weeks the SF Chronicle has run a special series on the…
Borderline Personality Disorder: Part 4
Part 4 – Borderline Personality Disorder When I first read “Girl Interrupted” I was confused. She is in a taxi to a mental hospital. Her two week hospitalization became 18…
Personality Disorders: Type 2 and 3
Personality Disorders Type 2 and 3 Part 2 – Personality Disorders: Schizoid The Mayo Clinic has a post defining this personality disorder hence, p.d. This is an uncommon disorder and…
Psychedelics for Major Depression
When it comes to Psychedelics for Major Depression an article caught my eye in today’s The Guardian (6/10/2019). “They broke my mental shackles: could magic mushrooms be the answer to…
Dr. Nicola of Aspen Talks Health interviews Dr. Paul Golden
https://youtu.be/RaODNoAPxY4 Dr. Nicola of Aspen Talks Health interviews Dr. Paul Golden on how to treat Bipolar disease. Dr. Paul shares his personal journey with this mental illness and his recovery…
Narcissism: Part 1 of Personality Disorders
As I started to research this topic I found that most books about the disorder deal with surviving narcissistic abuse by a spouse or other family member, mostly the former.…
Statistics for Major Depression and Bipolar Disease
Statistics for major depression and bipolar disease (all fact checked and referenced by Paul) Each year 6.7% of U.S. adults experience an episode of major depression. More than 3% of…
Fear of Reoccurrence and Shame
I can relate to the fear of recurrence but not really the shame. My episodes of depression are much scarier to me than my hypomanias. I have had about seven…
Suicide and the Elderly
In a previous article about suicide I quoted 2016 statistics. There are now statistics for 2017. These are reported annually by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP). The overall…
Panic Attacks
Panic attacks are sudden episodes of intense fear that triggers a severe reaction much like a burst of adrenaline (epinephrine) as in a flight or fight reaction. The attacks are…
Breakdown: A Clinician’s Experience in a Broken System of Emergency Psychiatry
Breakdown: A Clinician’s Experience in a Broken System of Emergency Psychiatry; Book Review by Paul Golden I have not seen a book about the seriously mentally ill (SMI) from the…
About Schizophrenia
I have not written directly about the most serious of psychiatric diseases. Schizophrenia is the most disastrous of mental illnesses for those afflicted as well for family members. These…
Famous People with Bipolar Disease Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phpKd3AoYbY Paul Golden MD
Dolores O’Riordan – Accidental or Suicide
Dolores O’Riordan – Accidental or Suicide I have written many articles about notable artists, poets, writers and politicians from past and present with bipolar disease (BPD) or major depression disease…
William Styron – Major Depression Disease
William Styron - Major Depression Disease by Paul Golden William Styron’s book Darkness Visible – A Memoir of Madness, (1990, Vintage) has become a Third Testament for the afflicted…
Anne Sexton: Bipolar Poet and Pulitzer Prize Winner
Anne Sexton: Bipolar Poet and Pulitzer Prize Winner I just finished Diane Weed Middlebrooks’s biography of Anne Sexton; Houghton Miflin, 1991. Although the biographer does an in depth look at…
Lithium for Bipolar I and II: Part Two
This is section is from my first book “An Insider’s View of Bipolar Disease.” It is fact base and referenced. Lithium is the primary drug used in the treatment of…
Lyndon Baines Johnson – A Bipolar President
Lyndon Baines Johnson – A Bipolar President Senate Years The below article is based on two books The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Master of the Senate written by…
The History of Lithium: Part One
Lithium—Part One—History and Function The specific reason I wrote this article is to dispel a statement at the 2018 California NAMI meeting in Monterey, CA by a psychologist speaking to…
The Invisible Deaths: Suicides
The Invisible Deaths: Suicides Sadly, again we have to deal with suicides, this time in prominent people. Society took a double hit this last two weeks with the suicide deaths…
Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson was a veritable recluse in her home in Amherst the town of her birth. In 1870 a family friend, Thomas Higginson asked her if she ever desired to…
Loving Madness
Bipolar disease affects many people. Loving Madness is a guide for loved ones of people suffering with bipolar disease. Perhaps the most important point for all people, family member or…
U.S. Presidents and Bipolar Disease (BPD) or Major Depression Disease (MDD)
U.S. Presidents and Bipolar Disease (BPD) or Major Depression Disease (MDD) It is tremendously difficult to search for reliable statistics about the incidence of BPD, MDD and Schizophrenia. After much…
The Forgotten Gun Deaths—Suicides, Homicides, Domestic Violence
The Forgotten Gun Deaths—Suicides, Homicides, Domestic Violence And yet again this country reels in agony of the mass shooting gun deaths of 17 high school students in Broward County, Florida.…
Puerto Vallarta—Hypomania
Puerto Vallarta—Hypomania and Second Major Depression At the end of my internship year at San Francisco General Hospital, in July of 1975, I flew off to Puerto Vallarta. The next…
Major Depression after Traumatic Brain Injury
I recently met a high school senior at a talk I gave on major depression disease (MDD) and bipolar disease (BPD). She had had a closed head injury from a…
My First Depression and My First Hypomania
My First Depression Psychotic Depression During my third year of medical school a foreboding of things to come occurred in January of 1973. To say I began to have anxiety…
Bipolar Psychosis and Unipolar Major Depression Disease
Bipolar psychosis during mania is common and yet not so much familiar to me until I started meeting more and more peers with BPD who have had or routinely have…
Prodrome of Schizophrenia
It is commonly accepted that schizophrenia and bipolar disease are diagnosed in the third decade of life. But, what about early symptoms as far back as grade school that may…
Paul Golden, MD Speaks; Depression & Bipolar Disorders
“Opening the Black Box on Mental Illness” Seminar, part I: Depression & Bipolar Disorders and a Personal Recovery Story from EL NIDO PRODUCTIONS on Vimeo.
Untreated Schizophrenics are America’s Disappeared
Who are America's untreated schizophrenics? One percent of the American population have schizophrenia—3.25 million souls. Fifty percent are not aware they are sick (anosognosia). The conundrum is that this group…
Seasonal Affective Disorder
Before getting into the subject of seasonal affective disorder (SAD) a review of the light spectrum is in order. The light we see is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) going through space.…
More About Postpartum Depression
When parents think of the impending birth of their baby the usual emotions are excitement, joy and anxiety. The last thing on their mind is postpartum depression. The “Baby Blues”…
Robert Lowell, Bipolar Disorder and Creativity
Robert Lowell, Bipolar Disorder and Creativity My first article regarding Abraham Lincoln based on the biography, Lincoln, by David Herbert Donald emphasized that Lincoln’s unipolar depression disorder allowed for genius…
REMI Guide
This book, The REMI Guide (Response to Encounters with the Mentally Ill) is one of many projects that have given me such satisfaction and are truly a labor of love.…
Abraham Lincoln and Major Depression
Abraham Lincoln and Major Depression During the Civil War: For over fifty years historians and psychiatrists have accepted the fact that Abraham Lincoln had major depression disorder. Also indicative of…
Stanislaus Passes Laura’s Law
Why do only 18 of 58 Counties in California fund AOT, yet 46 of 50 States Do? 8/8/2017 (My portion of rebuttal to Stanislaus County board of Supervisors) SAMHSA is…
Can Substance Abuse Cause Schizophrenia?
Can Substance Abuse Cause Schizophrenia? This has been and remains a controversial subject. Certainly the concept of “dual diagnosis” is well accepted. I am going to review several articles to…
Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome
Certainly since 1980 PTSD Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome has been considered a mental illness since it was added to the Diagnostic and Statical Manual volume III (DSM III). This was…
Why California Counties Are Not Funding Laura’s Law
The Little Hoover Commission in 2012 turned over MHSA to County control with no oversight and NO mention of AOT Assisted Outpatient Treatment also known as Laura's Law, The Counties…
Who Were in the Asylums of the 19th Century?
Insane and Who Were in the Asylums of the 19th Century The “insane” of the past and the Seriously Mentally Ill (SMI) of today are different. In the 19th Century…
Homelessness and Mental Illness
Homelessness and Mental Illness If you walk in San Francisco’s Union Square, or along Mission or Market Street or under the Highway 580 overpass you can see homelessness is epidemic.…
Juvenile Delinquent or Seriously Mentally Ill (SMI)
“Juvenile Delinquent” or Seriously Mentally Ill (SMI) I want to preface this review of the article below by saying that nowhere is the term seriously mentally ill (SMI) used which…
7000 Bodies Buried Under Campus
7,000 Bodies Buried Under Campus: Who Were in the Asylums of the 19th Century? In the mid-19th century “insane asylums also called lunatic asylums” housed for sure the worst of…
My Internship at San Francisco General Hospital
During my Medical Internship about fifteen of us rotated through San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH). The cases and anecdotes below all were from SFGH, the County Hospital for all of…
Does Marijuana Cause Mental Illness
Does marijuana cause mental illness? Of course we all know that alcohol, marijuana, prescription and street drugs worsen major depression, bipolar depression and schizophrenia. What about marijuana, in particular, CAUSING…
Teenage Suicide in America
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), the leading advocacy group for suicide awareness and prevention, has published some disturbing statistics regarding teenage suicide in America as of 2015. While…
Postpartum Depression
Postpartum Depression is a major depression occurring during or more likely within four weeks after a pregnancy. The incidence is approximately 10% of pregnancies. Postpartum depression may last up to…
Laura’s Law II
First some background on the law and where it stood between conception in 2002 to 2010. Then an update to 2015. The law is intended to allow for an alternative…
Paul on Lets Talk Radio
Paul Golden MD is interviewed by Atlanta's Let's Talk radios host Alecia Hill. Listen to Paul's story and his many years of dealing with bipolar disease while a practicing physician.…
Mad Dog
“Mad Dog” Winston Churchill called his episodes of depression Mad Dog. So what happens when I get what I call the Big D. I awoke one day in 1976 in…
Leonard Cohen
The death of Cohen was one of several iconic singer/song writers in the latter half of 2016. I will be drawing on a wonderful and huge biography of Leonard written…
Holiday Depression
I attended an event hosted by the head nurse of the three dialysis units that I used for my patients during my practice. It was a “meet and greet” and…
My First Depression
My First Depression A foreboding of things to come occurred in the summer of 1973. I was 25 years old and in my third year of medical school. To say…
Laura’s Law
Laura’s Law (Also Called Assisted Outpatient Treatment or AOT) How do we prevent a seriously mentally ill (SMI) person from ending in the morass that is County mental facilities? The…
How Pets Help Bipolar Disease
How Pets Help Bipolar Disease Pets and Mindfulness I grew up in an apartment in Arlington, Virginia across the Potomac from D.C. Pets were not allowed and my father being…
Meeting Patch Adams
When I was invited by the Physicians Organization Committee based in San Francisco to attend a lecture by Patch Adams at UCSF medical center, I was ignorant as are many…
Bipolar MD: My Life As a Physician with Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar MD: My Life As a Physician with Bipolar Disorder An authentic journey into darkness and light, Bipolar MD: My Life As a Physician with Bipolar Disease by Paul Golden,…
What are Personality Disorders and are they Mental Illnesses?
What are Personality Disorders and are they Mental Illnesses? By virtue of their being called disorders I guess they are. I feel that they are only disorders if they interfere…
Nephrology
It occurred to me that I have been writing about the last four years about bipolar disorder. My memoir, Bipolar MD: My Life As a Physician with Bipolar Disorder, will…
What is Rapid Cycling?
What is Rapid Cycling? Most people with bipolar disorder will have between 0.7 and 0.9 episodes of depression or mania per year lasting three to six months. Between episodes euthymia…
Paul Golden Interview with with Dr. Angela
Paul Golden Interview with with Dr. Angela Join Us - Scheduled for July 5 at 3PM Pacific Standard time. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/modernliving/2016/07/05/an-insiders-view-of-bipolar-disease
Mindfulness
Mindfulness The concept of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) was developed by Dr. Jon Kabal-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in 1979. This method is used as a…
Police Encounters with the Mentally Ill
Police Encounters with the Mentally Ill When there are police encounters with the mentally ill, the new normal for those with mental illness during a crisis (defined as a danger…
Bipolar Dictionary
Bipolar Dictionary of Psychiatric Terms This is a bipolar dictionary of common psychiatric terms. Agoraphobia: one of the anxiety disorders characterized by feelings the environment to be unsafe, usually include…
Electric Shock Therapy
Electric Shock Therapy or Electro-Convulsant Therapy - Commonly referred to as Electric Shock Therapy, ECT or electroconvulsant therapy, contrary to belief, is still very much part of therapy in the…
How Does Bipolar Feel?
How Does Bipolar Feel? While having bipolar disease does not mean a person is always either feeling depressed (depressing) or feeling high (mania), people often ask, "How does bipolar feel?"…
Suicide, Major Depression Disorder, and Bipolar Disease
Suicide has to be talked about particularly in this country and this world in these difficult times both locally and geopolitically. In 2014 there were over 42 thousand thus making…
Mental Health and Mass Shootings
Mental Health and Mass Shootings How is mental health related to the epidemic of mass shootings in recent years? Mass shooting, stabbing, clubbing, etc. is defined as victims of three…
How is Bipolar Diagnosed?
How is bipolar diagnosed? Bipolar disease is a clinical diagnosis made on the basis of a series of diagnostic criteria, psychiatric evaluation, self-questionnaires, mood charts and individual retrospective evaluation at…
Bipolar Disorder and Bipolar Depression Treatment
Bipolar Disorder and Bipolar Depression Treatment This article discusses the treatment of bipolar disorder, mania, hypomania and bipolar depression. The treatment of major depression is a topic for a separate…
Famous People with Bipolar Disease
Famous People with Bipolar Disease People with bipolar disease and major depression can take some solace in the highly intelligent, creative artists, leaders, philosophers, writers and politicians who have been…
Bipolar Mania
Bipolar Mania: Manic versus Enthusiastic For individuals who suffer with bipolar mania the onset of the first manic or hypomanic episode is very difficult to recognize. Sometimes even after multiple…
An Insider’s View of Bipolar Disease
An Insider's View of Bipolar Disease Do you wonder if you - or someone you love - could be suffering from bipolar disease? Do you want some straightforward information on…
What is Bipolar?
What is Bipolar? Bipolar disease is a mood disorder and was previously referred to as manic-depressive disease. The mood disorders are major depression and bipolar disease. What is Bipolar Depression?…
Audio interview
Interview with the author of An Insider’s View of Bipolar Disease July 27, 2015 Created: Gail Woodard Gail Woodard interviews our newest author Dr. Paul Golden about his new book An…
The Bipolar Physician – A Story of Struggle, Survival and Success
“The Bipolar Physician - A Story of Struggle, Survival and Success” This is the story of Paul Golden's journey though Bipolar Disease. Beginning with his first mysterious bout of depression…
What is Depression?
What is Depression? Depression versus the Blues—In a nutshell: What is the difference between major depression and the blues? Everyone feels blue or sad many times. These feelings are usually…