Voices in the Family w/Dr Dan Gottlieb

Apparently if you wanna call in to a talk radio show you should call in immediately. I waited 45 minutes until Dan announced his phone number for the second time. The first time I wrote down the wrong number. (Don't worry, kids, I sent the WHYY webmaster a note that he/she should prominently display it on the website. I spose it'll be about as effective as my writing Mr. Frick about offering education classes to newly diagnosed folks w/bipolar disorder.)

Here's what I did while hanging onto the phone for 45 minutes:

- Punched down my whole wheat bread into 2 nice round loaves and set the timer for half an hour to rise

- Opened my mail. The PECO bill wasn't that high, about $72 I think. I got a thank-you note from the Red Cross cuz I donated money for the flood in the Philippines. Reason is cuz I'd talked to my PayPal representative who lives there.

- Read a cute email forward from Bendesky about How to Cure Neck Pain when sitting at the computer. The email showed the writing SIDEWAYS. And that's exactly right. Neckercises should be done rolling your head around. PS -I don't do them. My neck makes horrid little crackling sounds.

- Used my pill cutter to cut my blood pressure pills in half. My druggist saves me money by giving me the huge horse pills & I halve them. I stole my first pill cutter from my friend Marcy with her permission. But I upgraded it recently b/c after 20 yrs the razor blade got rusty.

Then the WHYY man said to me, Ruth? Sorry but we won't be able to fit in your call.

Darn, I said. Thanks for letting me know.

Then I sat down and typed up an email to Dan Gottlieb also sending it to a couple friends including the GREAT Debbie Moritz of NAMI Bucks. One of her members was the featured guest of Dr Dan, along w/someone else whose viewpoint I disagree with in nearly everything he has to say.

Hi Dan,

Thanks for broadcasting this all-important topic. I also listened to Minds on the Edge.

I did call in to the show but unfortunately there wasn't enough time.

Mark Salzer was on my board of directors. I run the leading support group in the Phila area for folks w/depression, bipolar disorder and our loved one.

I would've made the following points.

1- There are numerous success stories for people w/mental illness, specifically bipolar disorder which I myself have. Your program highlighted the worst case scenarios. People need to know that perhaps a majority of people w/bipolar do well in life. Our support group has bipolar people who are lawyers, schoolteachers, business owners, journalists. A happy productive outcome awaits us if our illness is properly managed. Our support group teaches people where to get help and emotionally supports them in both good and bad times.

2- I'm totally in favor of mandatory involuntary treatment when a patient won't cooperate and is in danger of harming herself or others. It is absolutely necessary. In 1984 my mother had me forcibly hospitalized when I had my first manic-psychotic break and threatened to kill her and pushed her down on the ground. I knew not what I did and landed up in the hospital for the first time and was medicated with Haldol. I thanked her afterward. Since then, I was never hospitalized and took my meds religiously, and started my own support group. I always worked.

3- As Salzer said, the most important values to not only mentally ill folks but to everyone is a good job, an intimate relationship, and one other thing I forget. Fred Frese also emphasized the importance of work, no matter what lowly job we may have.

I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO BE INCLUDED, if I may, in future dialogues about mental illness. Thousands of people have passed thru the doors of our support group since our founding in 1986. I know bipolar folks very well. At my age of 63, I no longer suffer from bipolar disorder and no longer need meds. How many people know this? I'm sure you're surprised.

That's it, Dan. Keep up the fantastic work.

Ruth Z Deming, MGPGP - a degree I got at age 45 after I was diagnosed w/bipolar disorder
Director
New Directions Support Group
www.newdirectionssupport.org
215 659 2142