Medifocus Guide

I just finished reading the Medifocus Guide to Bipolar Disorder.
The Medifocus Guide to Bipolar Disorder has articles on current and relevant research organized into categories for easy reading. Free updates are provided for one year. It also provides an international physician finder.
I believe this book will be a very useful resource for bipolars and their families, especially if recently diagnosed.

Bipolar Bestsellers Q4 2005

As always, Kay Redfield Jamison has more than one book on the list – three this time.

1. An Unquiet Mind : A Memoir of Moods and Madness (Vintage) by Kay Redfield Jamison
2. Loving Someone With Bipolar Disorder by Julie A. Fast, John D. Preston
3. The Bipolar Disorder Survival Guide: What You and Your Family Need to Know by David J. Miklowitz
4. Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament by Kay Redfield Jamison
5. To Walk on Eggshells by Jean Johnston
6. Soft Bipolar : Vivid Thoughts, Mood Shifts and Swings, Depression, and Anxiety of the Mild Mood Disorders Affecting Millions of Americans by Charles K. Bunch, Ph.D.
7. The Naked Bird Watcher by Suzy Johnston
8. Night Falls Fast : Understanding Suicide (Vintage) by Kay Redfield Jamison
9. New Hope for People with Bipolar Disorder : Your Friendly, Authoritative Guide to the Latest in Traditional and Complementary Solutions by Jan Fawcett, Bernard Golden, Nancy Rosenfeld, Frederick K. Goodwin

Et Nox Facta Est

Bipolarhead suggested some light reading for the darkness. My favorite for falling into the void is Victor Hugo’s La Fin de Satan:

Et nox facta est
I

Depuis quatre mille ans il tombait dans l’abîme

Il n’avait pas encor pu saisir une cime,
Ni lever une fois son front démesuré.
Il s’enfonçait dans l’ombre et la brume, effaré,
Seul, et derrière lui, dans les nuits éternelles,
Tombaient plus lentement les plumes de ses ailes.

Powerful stuff,.

My poor translation:

Et nox facta est

For four thousand years he had fallen into the pit.

He was never again able to soar to the heights,
Nor even once to raise his foul visage.
He was surrounded by the twilight and the mist,
frightened, alone in the eternal nights,
and behind him the feathers dropped slowly from his wings.

Koko the Gorilla

Refer back to a previous posting.

http://koko.org/world/
Koko has a tested IQ of between 70 and 95 on a human scale, where 100 is considered “normal.”

One wag has suggested that we use gorillas as sky marshals.

I would like to point out that the wording on Koko’s site was that a 100 IQ is “normal.” What it really is, is average. 78% of the human population is in the range of 80 to 120 points.
But how does IQ work? Another way to look at it is that with a 70 IQ Koko might get through the 6th grade and hold a job doing simple tasks in a supervised environment. In reality, of course, her language limitations might make this difficult.
With an IQ of 80, she might be able to complete the 7th grade and work unsupervised in an unskilled job – washing dishes, say.
With an IQ of 90 she might graduate high school and be capable of working a semi-skilled job.

I used the bottom of the ability ranges here. With a 95 IQ, Koko might be able to earn a college degree if she were motivated. I hope this puts it into perspective.

“Fine Animal Person Gorilla have Liberal Arts degree. Welcome to Wal-Mart.”

Purchases through the ad above benefit The Gorilla Foundation. I am not in any way affiliated with The Gorilla Foundation.

References:
Definition of IQ
American Scientist
hiqnews.megafoundation.org
APA Journal

Extrapolated Salary

I graphed my salary from the Social Security Statement this morning. After diagnosis and meds, my salary increase faltered and I began to have steep drops in salary, usually corresponding to a period of unemployment, every three years.

Just for giggles I’ve uploaded a gif of the graph.
I let Excel do a logarithmic extrapolation based on the pre-diagnosis data and it predicted the same salary as the salary reports in the tech journals say I should be making. A quick guesstimate by counting blocks in the graph shows that my lifetime earnings have been about half of what they would have been if I wasn’t mentally ill. I like to play with numbers when I’m bored. Can you tell?
There is no doubt in my mind that I benefited from being bipolar. I could think quickly, I had a great visual memory, and when I was hypomanic I could work long hours on very little sleep.
There are times when I miss what the meds have taken away.

On the question of animal intelligence

I believe that the answer is to treat all animals as humans and to provide vocational rehab for those who have trouble functioning in human society.

- me, 25 Apr 88 20:03:56 GMT in sci.bio
Are Animals Patentable?