As the annual Hajj pilgrimage gets under way in Saudi Arabia, we hear from those preparing for the journey after last year's deadly crush. And, after a photo by a person with depression of their tidied bedroom went viral, we ask people with the illness what coping mechanisms they use
Read MoreThe Mighty: How I'm Thriving With Bipolar Disorder →
“You need to lower your expectations for your life.” By the time I first heard this, I had already graduated from law school, passed the bar exam, earned a master’s in public health and published my first book. I was 29 years old.
Read MoreThe Huffington Post: Ten Things White People Need To Quit Saying →
While I’ve never been especially fond of political correctness for its own sake, I’ve encountered enough well-meaning white people embarrassing themselves to know that a brief tutorial can’t hurt. For those who insist that they could never say anything racist because they are not racists, I present a quick reminder: Just because you didn’t intend for something to sound racist, doesn’t mean it isn’t, and just because you don’t think you’re a racist, doesn’t mean you’re not. I refer you to the Washington Redskins and every idiot who insists that Native Americans should be “honored” to be so warmly insulted. Newsflash: Determining whether this team’s name is racist is not up to anyone but Native Americans. If you are not Native American, your opinion on the issue is at best irrelevant. I know it’s hard for some to accept, but white people don’t get to determine what is and isn’t racist.
Read MoreThe Huffington Post: A Message From Your Muslim Neighbors →
As someone who writes about the news, I can’t exactly ignore it. Still, lately, I have been tempted. So many of the breaking news alerts I receive on my phone now seem to have something to do with a certain leading political candidate saying hateful and ignorant things about me.
Read MoreThe New York Times: A Persian in Therapy →
My people don’t do psychotherapy. We have friends. We have families. We have pharmacies. Paying strangers to listen to our problems isn’t our style.
Read MoreWHYY's Radio Times: Interview with Melody Moezzi (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane) →
Author MELODY MOEZZI writes there aren’t high profile advocates for her medical condition, “Silence and humiliation rule our playing fields. While others down performance-enhancing drugs and play on grass or Astroturf, we down antipsychotics and play on quicksand.” Moezzi was diagnosed with Bipolar disorder after years of struggling with delusions, melancholia and hallucinations. She attempted suicide. Having a supportive community with this unpredictable condition was bad enough, but Moezzi is an Iranian-American born in 1979, the year of the revolution, and the social stigma and stereotypes made her life especially difficult. The activist and attorney’s new memoir is “Haldol and Hyacinths: a Bipolar Life.”
Read MoreBipolar [bp] Magazine: Bipolar & Sleep Disturbance: We Can’t All Be Prince →
Several months before my first psychotic break, I made a decision. At the time, I thought it was a bright idea, which wasn’t surprising given the fact that, at the time, I also thought I was incapable of anything but bright ideas.
Read MoreThe New York Times: Lawyers of Sound Mind? →
RALEIGH, N.C. — LAST week, swarms of sun-starved, soon-to-be lawyers emerged from hiding to celebrate completing the bar exam. Passing the exam, however, won’t guarantee them admission to the bar. They also have to demonstrate that they possess the requisite fitness and moral character for the practice of law.
Read MoreWUNC's The State of Things: Breaking The Silence Of Mental Illness (interview by Frank Stasio) →
Melody Moezzi has always been outspoken. As an Iranian-American writer and attorney, she has devoted herself to discussing controversial issues like religion, politics and culture in Iran. But when she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, her family and doctors encouraged silence. On this issue, they thought, you could not speak the truth. Melody would not be quiet. She decided to write a memoir of her experiences so that others with the disorder, and those who know them, could better understand. The memoir is called “Haldol and Hyacinths: A Bipolar Life,” (Avery/2013). Host Frank Stasio talks to her about her experience.
Read MoreCNN: A plea from an exhausted Muslim woman →
I wasn’t surprised by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair's recent statement about a “problem within Islam.”
Read MoreMs. Magazine: Childless by CHOICE, Get It? →
I don’t want kids. Never have. I consider birth control the greatest invention of the 20th century and I’ve been taking it religiously for nearly a decade. No pregnancies to date, and in the rare event of one I’d be first in line at my local abortion clinic before that zygote even mildly resembled a human. I’ve given a great deal of thought to parenthood—arguably more than many who ultimately pursue it. And recognizing the enormous responsibility, commitment and sacrifice involved, I respectfully refuse to reproduce.
Read MoreCNN: Embracing life after suicide attempt →
From the moment I was admitted to my first psychiatric ward, I was desperate to get out. I hated the smell, the food, most of the staff, the routines, the magazines. I hated the sagging mattresses, the glassless funhouse mirrors, the furniture, the isolation rooms. But as much as I despised the place, there was one saving grace for me there: the other patients.
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