C A K E W O O D

Question: What are some examples of beliefs that might be standing in the way of one's liberation as a healthy bipolar?  What were they for you?

Answer: Beliefs are believed by most to be sacred, even when they are far…

Question: Aside from medication, what have you found to be most helpful in coping with bipolar disorder?

Answer: Medication, more often than not, saves lives in the bipolar disorder realm.  Lithium is notably regarded as a suicide preventer by most…

Question: If, by your description, careless young adult use of drink, drugs, sex, and cigarettes are the primary bipolar poisons, how is it that a wholesome teetotaler like you managed to have three breakdowns? 

Answer: Bipolar breakdowns are like…

Question: As parents, how do we handle bipolar behaviors...agitation, suicidal leanings, etc. while maintaining our own sanity?  

Answer: Bipolar behaviors need to be acknowledged, counseled, and managed all the time, if they are symptomatic behaviors.  If, however, the behaviors are…

Question: What does the concept of normalizing bipolar disorder mean and, as parents, how do we get back to being as "normal" as possible?

Answer: The notion of normalization is difficult for everyone, bipolars included.  The best way for me…

Question: You often refer to the poisonous influences of the world that bring bipolars to their knees.  Can you tell me some specific instances from your own life of toxic influences that you were able to banish and how this…

Question: How do you maintain such a cool head in the face of all the objective pressures of the world?  So called "normal" individuals find day-to-day living in the current social system unbearable and unsustainable from an economic and emotional…

Question: What do you consider to be examples of helpful/accurate representations of bipolar disorder in popular culture?

Answer: Kirk Douglas as Vincent van Gogh in Lust for Life, a 1956 film by Vincente Minnelli, is a fleshy portrayal of…

Question: I wonder if you go too far in suggesting that medication should never be part of the bipolar disorder solution.  No doubt there are many like yourself for whom lifestyle change alone would be sufficient.  But might there not…

Question: How does faith in a good and powerful God come into play with the struggles of a bipolar?  Do you find you depend on God more or less?

Answer: When I was hospitalized in 1986, following my first breakdown,…

Question: My current view is that not all who suffer from mental illness can
achieve a full recovery, though I've never surrendered hope for myself.  I
less seek a full recovery and am more interested in gaining the tools
(of…

Question: It seems that there are so many more diagnoses of bipolar disorder now than there were when I was growing up.  I realize that could be because of personal and general lack of awareness and possibly expanded news coverage…