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 effort on the internet the statistics that most jived were 0.8% for bipolar I, 1.8% for bipolar II and 1.0 % for schizophrenia. Looking for […]
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. The definition of a mass shooting is four or more random deaths by gun not committed by religious zealots or terrorists. The debate is guns […]
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 morning I met a Canadian businesswoman and we spent the week together. We did not need two rooms. The last day I flew off to […]
“Opening the Black Box on Mental Illness” Seminar, part I: Depression & Bipolar Disorders and a Personal Recovery Story from EL NIDO PRODUCTIONS on Vimeo.
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” occur with the first two weeks of birth in some mothers who can be overwhelmed with the new care of a child. These include mood […]
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 the Federal Agency whose budget of $3.6 billion goes to mental illness. This Federal budget makes no mention of the SMI: 1% of the population […]
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 want complete control of the money. SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) is the Federal Agency whose budget of $3.6 billion goes to […]
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 the insane asylums also called lunatic asylums the population included largely what we now call schizophrenics. I don’t like to define folks as this or […]
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. This population is rising here and in all cities. I have seen this become a rarity to so common place as to be numb to […]
“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 applies to schizophrenia and severe bipolar disorder. Most of the money allocated by the mental health “industry” excludes the seriously mentally ill. See a recent […]
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 the worst schizophrenic and subgroup catatonic persons. However, there was a huge slippery slope of a population who either had no mental illness or very […]
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 San Francisco. It was the blood and guts hospital and like County Hospitals the patients were indigents except for those who came through the ER […]
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 these disorders. I was surprised and dismayed at a recent Laura’s Law meeting at NAMI here in Modesto that one city council person upon hearing […]
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 a year (20%). This is not to be confused with “the baby blues” which peak at 2 to 5 days after delivery consisting of weeping, […]
“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 my studio apartment in San Francisco. I would have been twenty-eight years old. I was single. I lived in the Marina at Laguna and Chestnut. […]
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 by Sylvie Simmons and released in 2012. She does him great justice and no biography need ever be written again. Why do I “get into […]
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 there to my surprise were eight health care professionals still working and with whom I had worked closely. There were RNs, LVNS, Techs, Social Workers, […]
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 people of the real man. Most of us think of the movie Patch Adams released in 1998 starring Robin Williams. Robin and Patch were good […]
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, MD delves into what it’s like to live with bipolar disorder every day but still carry on a full and satisfying life. Speaking from personal […]
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 treatment of affective disorders. Even some primary care physicians have said to me that they did not think this treatment was used anymore. It is […]
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 suicide the 10th leading cause of death for Americans. That computes to 13 suicides per 100,000 population. In 2005 the rate was 10. Another way […]
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 Insider’s View of Bipolar Disease.Paul discusses how to recognize bipolar symptoms, understand the treatment and solve the challenges it brings to life, relationships, and career.
Dr Golden now offers support calls for family members, loved ones and caregivers of people with bipolar disease. CLICK HERE to learn more.
