Jayson Blair

My first psychiatrist in New York warned me not to become "a professional patient." In the midst of news reports about me I had been approached by all sorts of people, including pharmaceutical companies whose medications I had not yet taken, to speak on their behalf with partially made-up narratives of a recovery that had not yet happened. Andy Behrman is the most high-profile bipolar "professional patient" out in the world of bipolar. I met Andy in late September 2007 after my friend Moira, at board member of Depression Bipolar Alliance-National Capital , introduced me to him and we arranged for him to come speak to all the DBSA groups in Washington and Baltimore. The event was sponsored by DBSA-NCA and the Depression Bipolar Support Alliance-Northern Virginia . I was being filmed that day by Samantha Grant, a documentary producer, and her crew from GUSH Productions, so the entire event was recorded. I can't bring myself to ask Sam for a copy of the recording, ...

Had lunch today at a practice where I am a contractor with John Grego, a counselor and admissions official, at the Greenbriar Academy for Girls . I have been increasingly impressed by the therapeutic boarding schools for high school students and college students that are a welcome alternative to some of the wilderness programs -- not all wilderness programs are bad -- where my clients have had trouble. My attraction to these schools came first from seeing the teenagers and young adults with bipolar who had benefited from them in the Depression Bipolar Support Alliance-Northern Virginia group I facilitated in Centreville. Greenbriar is located in a valley of the Appalachian Mountain range, offers strong academic programs, equestrian therapeutic programs, one-on-one counseling, case management and medication management. John invited me to come down to the school and to give a talk to the staff and counselors. I'm looking forward to doing so.

I am a huge fan of Alison Malmon . She is the 26-year-old executive director of Active Minds on Campus , a support network of more than 100 college campus chapters that help individuals with mental illnesses, support their family and friends and work to generally improve mental health on college campuses. I originally met Alison when a friend was applying for a position at the growing Active Minds headquarters in Washington. Since then, we arranged to have the Depression Bipolar Support Alliance-Northern Virginia and George Mason University's Office of Disability Services , to have Alison speak on campus in February. Alison started Active Minds after her 22-year-old brother, Brian, who had schizoaffective disorder, committed suicide in March 2000 while on leave from Columbia University. Alison was a student at the University of Pennsylvania at the time. We just wrapped up lunch at Georgia Brown's in DC, and it looks like Alison has plans to create similar chapters in high scho...

Several months ago, Pete Earley, the former Washington Post reporter and author, came to speak at a Depression Bipolar Support Alliance-Northern Virginia event at the Sully District Government Center in Chantilly, Va. Pete spoke about his book "Crazy: A Father's Search Through America's Mental Health Madness." Pete's book is about his son, who had to be hospitalized several times and eventually had a run-in with the law. Pete also examined areas where the mental health and criminal justice systems collide across America. In a tragic twist, one of the Fairfax County, Va. police detectives, Vicky Armel , who helped his son when he ran into trouble was killed by a mentally ill gunman several months before the talk in the parking lot of the same building. Pete and I had a chance to speak after the meeting, and one of the topics was about the support groups. I'm happy to say that his son has joined and become an active member in of one of the groups. His insight...

Good news -- I'm taking my life coaching work to one of the area's fastest growing psychological and psychiatric practices, Ashburn Psychological Services , a team of psychological and psychiatric professionals in Ashburn, Va. The team is run by Michael Oberschneider, Psy.D, a well-regarded clinical psychologist, his wife, Liz, a financial wunderkind. The other clinician-contractors are: Mehul V. Mankad, M.D. , a adult and forensic psychiatrist who was the former chief resident at Duke University, is considered one of the two top area psychiatrists by members of the bipolar support groups (he blends medication management and psychotherapy in a manner that is rare these days; and his ; Susan Hamilton, PhD ., a psychologist who is well-regarded by members of the group who have been treated by her and a former mental health chief at the American Red Cross; Margaret Wong, PhD., a very funny and nice child psychologist that I had met several months before when Michael helped the D...

I don't write much these days about my own past unless it has some relevance to the work I'm doing to help people now as a life coach and through the Depression Bipolar Support Alliance-Northern Virginia . But, for those of you have e-mailed with questions about the role that bipolar disorder played in my previous life, I should say that it did not cause my problems, mania and depression just added fuel to a fire that was already burning bright. You can read more in my book "Burning Down My Masters' House: A Personal Descent into Madness that Shook The New York Times" or you can read the free, cliff-notes version at The New York Times Company's About.com website article called "Jayson Blair has Bipolar Disorder."

Went to a fascinating talk last night by Dr. Alan G. Mallinger, a psychiatrist and unit chief of the Adult Outpatient Clinic's Mood and Anxiety Disorder Unit at the National Institute of Mental Health . Dr. Mallinger presented interesting findings and discussed research into medications that help reverse brain cell atrophy caused by repeated exposure to mania and depression.

Just came back from Politics and Prose bookstore in Northwest Washington where I attended a talk and question and answer sessions by Kay Redfield Jamison, PhD, the noted researcher and author of a memoir of her struggles with bipolar disorder, and her partner in the definitive book on bipolar disorder, "Manic Depresssive Illness: Bipolar Disorders and Recurrent Depression, " the former National Institute of Mental Health director, Frederick Goodwin, MD. Two women who are close friends of mine from the Depression Bipolar Support Alliance-Northern Virginia came along and we had a blast being able to ask specific questions of Drs. Jamison and Goodwin. I thought the discussion of recurrent depression -- a sort of bipolar-like depression that goes up and down often but never gets above quote-unquote normal -- was particularly illuminating. Got a copy of the book and plan to use it in treatment (mine and my clients).