NOVEMBER 2019 BY WILLIAM POLKOWSKI Martin E. P. Seligman has been a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania for many years and is the director of the Positive Psychology Center there. He is past president of the American Psychological Association and the author of several books. “Learned Optimism” (originally published in 1990) isContinue reading Learned Optimism Improves Health and Resilience
Borderline Personality Disorder: A Guide for Families
July 2019 By Susan Todoroff While looking for library books on borderline personality disorder (BPD) I saw the choices were scarce. Before going online to look for more, I decided to check out “The Essential Family Guide to Borderline Personality Disorder” by Randi Kreger. The book helps family members understand and communicate better with theirContinue reading Borderline Personality Disorder: A Guide for Families
Understanding Suicide From the Inside Out
APRIL 2019 BY WILLIAM POLKOWSKI Kay Redfield Jamison — author of the autobiography “An Unquiet Mind” and “Touched With Fire,” a study of the connection between creativity and bipolar disorder (or manic depression) — wrote “Night Falls Fast” in an attempt to understand suicide more deeply. Dr. Jamison, who lives with bipolar disorder, once attemptedContinue reading Understanding Suicide From the Inside Out
A Psychologist Tells Her Own Story of Schizophrenia
FEBRUARY 2019 BY LOIS MAHARG Arnhild Lauveng has written the kind of mental health book I like to read: an intimate account of lived experience and insight from a person who recovered her health and became what she wanted to be. But Lauveng’s diagnosis was schizophrenia, and schizophrenia is understood by many to be anContinue reading A Psychologist Tells Her Own Story of Schizophrenia
Science of Happiness Explored in Online Course
DECEMBER 2018 BY WILLIAM POLKOWSKI “Coursera” is a platform for massive open online courses, or MOOCs. It offers hundreds of free courses from many top universities in the world, including Yale, Stanford, Princeton and University of Michigan. There are courses in many different subjects. Among them are courses on depression, schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorders, medicalContinue reading Science of Happiness Explored in Online Course
Bipolar Disorder Did Not Stop Her From Excelling in Her Field
OCTOBER 2018 BY WILLIAM POLKOWSKI Both an authority on manic-depressive illness (Bipolar Disorder) and one who has experienced it first hand in its various dimensions, Kay Redfield Jamison has written prolifically about manic depression. She has had several books published. In 1990 “Manic Depressive Illness,” a comprehensive textbook of some 900 pages coauthored with FrederickContinue reading Bipolar Disorder Did Not Stop Her From Excelling in Her Field
What Made Maddy Run, by Kate Fagan
July 2018 By Elizabeth Boyle Editor’s Note: The following review was first published by The Iowa Review in December 2017 and can be found online at this link. Running is a “spectacular balancing act,” ESPN journalist Kate Fagan writes in What Made Maddy Run (Little, Brown, 2017). “A runner is always attempting to control everything—time,Continue reading What Made Maddy Run, by Kate Fagan
Classic on Manic-Depression and Creativity Still a Definitive Work
April 2018 By William Polkowski “Touched With Fire,” written by psychiatrist Kay Redfield Jamison, is described well by its subtitle: “Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament.” Dr. Jamison, who lives with manic-depression herself, has been the author of numerous books on bipolar disorder over the years, including her autobiography: “An Unquiet Mind.” Though published inContinue reading Classic on Manic-Depression and Creativity Still a Definitive Work
January First: A Memoir of Child-Onset Schizophrenia
By Jordan Wilkerson March 2018 January (Jani) Schofield has imaginary friends who live in Calilini—a distant realm that only Jani can visit. Some of her friends are nice, but others are malicious; they force Jani to hit her pet dog, parents, and infant brother. Jani screams in tantrums as she tries to fend off herContinue reading January First: A Memoir of Child-Onset Schizophrenia