Jayson Blair

Standing in the front of the coffee table last night, I picked up my phone to check the news and saw the headline. Robin Williams was dead at the age 63. I clicked on the link with a mindset that some horrible accident must have happened. Perhaps he died of a tragic illness that took his life early, like cancer. I was right about the tragic illness, it appeared. I had just picked the wrong horrible disease. Early reports suggest that Williams, the actor and comedian known for his standup and movies like “Good Will Hunting,” “Patch Adams” and “Mrs. Doubtfire” died of asphyxiation, most likely caused, according to the Marion County, California sheriff’s office, by suicide. That Williams suffered from drug addiction I knew from his standup. What I did not know was that he suffered from the same disease that ailed me, bipolar disorder. In a 2006 episode of “Fresh Air,” the NPR radio show, Williams told host Terry Gross, “Do I perform sometimes in a manic style? Yes. Am...

Sitting in the passenger seat with my headphones plugged in on the second day of a long drive home to Virginia from Maine, I was listening to Janis Joplin’s “Mercedes Benz” and scanning for the latest news on my phone. As we drove south on the New Jersey Turnpike, I scanned Twitter and came across the strikingly sad, although not terribly surprising, news that jazz and R&B singer Amy Winehouse had died in her London home . Initial news reports describe the official cause of death as "unexplained;" the unconfirmed leaks suggest that alcohol, drug use and emphysema may have contributed. Winehouse's struggle with drugs and alcohol had been widely chronicled in the British and American press and the singer's hit song "Rehab" seems, if nothing else, to be autobiographical. Less widely reported, but no less salient, was Winehouse's struggle with bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression. "Amy had battled drink and drugs problems throughout her ...

The last two weeks have had me repeating a phrase that I learned many years ago from my high school journalism teacher, the astute and sapient Anne Sharp, when we either came across or created an image to represent the dangers of school administrators attempting to spin us, the student newspaper. The final image was of upright tiger wearing a brim hand with a card on it reading "press." The tiger was sitting in front of a picnic basket on a blanket and a person was sitting across from them. The caption read something like (and I'm sure we got the quote from somewhere; I just can't remember), "Doing business with the press is a bit like having lunch with a tiger, you don't know whether you are having lunch or you are the lunch." For those disinclined to my wrapping, winding, wreathing stories, I simplified the principle behind why I don't like doing media interviews, "Once you've been bitten by a tiger, you are a little hesitant to stick you...

Oh, yeah ... swan divers always go mad - my friend, Liz Kelley, on those of us who love and live to the point of madness and seem to believe that it is the only sensible way to either love or live. Sitting across from one of my most creativity, thoughtful, helpful, self-aware and troubled clients last week, I thought of this quotation. She's a swam diver. In everything in life -- the beauty, the ball, the gray -- she swan dives, sometimes in her own best interest and for her own thrill. Sometimes between that's what swans do. That's how they eat. Those who they get their nourishment. As like swans dive because that is where we the door dive, swan divers like her and me do it because that's where we find our nourishment. Its in healthy? I don't know, but it seems, sometimes, the only way for us to live.

Dr. Susan Hamilton , a noted clinical psychologist, former director of substance abuse treatment programs and the former director of mental health at the American Red Cross, began working with me today to bring the federal Substance Abuse Mental Health Administration's Recovery Month 2009 to Ashburn Psychological Services and Loudoun County in September. Taking, Dr. Hamilton's lead we are looking at distributing tons of SAMSHA literature on substance abuse and mental health in the community, offering in-service training or a lecture that includes clinicians and our substance abuse treatment alums . Looking forward to more planning with Dr. Hamilton and making a difference when it comes to recovery.

A film crew from WebMD - the award-winning website that blends expertise in medicine, journalism, communication and content - came by this morning to record an interview with me and shadow me for a day as I worked with clients. It was exciting. Along with the Mayo Clinic , WebMD has some of the most clear, comprehensive and evidence-based information on mental health on the Web. The WebMD film crew met me a little after 6:15 am and followed me through my morning routines, including taking medicine, to the office for a case management meeting, then a two-hour IEP meeting for a student at a high school, two sessions with clients at the office and then the sit-down interview. Two clients -- one with attention deficit disorder and one bipolar disorder -- and several colleagues -- including Dr. Bill Ling, a noted nueropsychologist and Dr. Maggie Avedisian, a top-flight psychologist for adults and adolescents -- agreed to be filmed by the WebMD crew. Details on when the film will be availab...

A month ago I was referred a client with attention deficit disorder who had been kicked out of his school because he was found with a mild opioid prescription pill. His parents were concerned and found deeper substance abuse problems that the school was unaware of after they investigated. With the help of his psychiatrist, who referred him to me, I was able to put together a treatment plan that the the Fairfax County School Board's Hearings Office -- the discipline arm of one of the nation's largest and highest performing school system's -- credited with their decision to allow him to return to school. Whooohooo!

Met on Thursday with Mark Brownell, a Loudoun County, Va. Sheriff's deputy, assigned to the Juvenile Court Services Unit . Mark talked with me and colleagues about a wide array of services they offer juveniles who end up in trouble. Among the services are interventions, where Mark and his colleagues attempt to get juveniles resources they need before they need up on probation or in jail. We met Mark through one of my client's mothers who was able to use his help to explain some of the potential consequences of substance abuse and other issues to my client.