From the Los Angeles Times:

Hollywood provides the physical and emotional backdrop for a new book by Terri Cheney, a former entertainment lawyer … “Manic: A Memoir” chronicles Cheney’s decades-long struggle to come to terms with and manage her bipolar disorder…. the book not only describes Cheney’s individual struggle against this disease — which afflicts 5.7 million adult Americans of every age, gender and social class — it also provides an apt metaphor for the bizarre psychological terrain of Hollywood. (more…)

From the New York Times, a review of “The Medicated Child,” scheduled for tonight on “Frontline.” As bipolar disorder has become a trendy diagnosis among the young, parents are increasingly turning to antipsychotic drugs for their children.

The result: kids are turned into guinea pigs, taking drugs with unknown efficacy and well-known risks. “I’m not sure that that’s progress,” says Thomas R. Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health.

See recent posts on antipsychotic medications here and here.

From People magazine, NBC Today show:

Sources close to Britney Spears say it’s likely she has bipolar disorder, although she has not been formally diagnosed.

See other posts:

Journalist: We’re all complicit in Britney’s tragedy

Columnist: Will Britney’s meltdown prompt reform in California mental health policies?

From the New York Daily News and MSNBC, news about a book by Richard M. Cohen, bestselling author whose earlier memoir ‘Blindsided’ gave readers an insight into his life with multiple sclerosis and colon cancer.

Ninety million Americans live with chronic illness. In his latest effort, Cohen helps readers explore their world by documenting the journeys of five people who have adapted to illness. Among the illnesses represented are ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease), non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, muscular dystrophy and bipolar disorder.

His message: these “citizens of sickness” are resilient, valuable people who are determined to live life on their own terms. In bearing witness to their lives, Cohen challenges public ignorance and offers lessons of courage and hope.

Married to “Today” show co-anchor Meredith Vieira, Cohen had trouble talking to his wife and their three kids about his anguish. In his autobiography, “Blindsided: Lifting a Life Above Illness: A Reluctant Memoir,” he disclosed all the details.

“I really was reluctant because I fought tooth and nail against revealing myself,” Cohen admits. “I didn’t want to tell my own story because the thought of actually laying open my life was unthinkable. (more…)

From the Boston Globe:

Sisters and co-authors Gina Gallagher and Patty Konjoian say they created their book after becoming fed up with depressing books about disability and listening to other parents brag about their children. They urge people to look beyond the labels given to children with special needs.

“The term, ‘bipolar disorder,’ can conjure terrible images, but my daughter is a wonderful person who has been treated and is leading a normal life. And that’s exactly what most people with mental illness are doing,” Konjoian said. In the book, Gallagher also writes about her experiences with her daughter, who has Asperger’s syndrome and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Margaret Trudeau, the former first lady of Canada, was perceived as a free spirit when she left her prime minister husband in the ’70s and ran off with the Rolling Stones.

But those experiences, she now says, were just the outward signs of a debilitating mental illness that went undiagnosed, causing her immeasurable pain and loneliness. She is now speaking out about her battle with bipolar disorder and urging others to seek treatment.

“I suffered tremendous loss because of my reluctance to come forward for help and not recognizing what was happening to me,” she has said.

From the Sudbury, Ontario, Star, the (Ontario) Record.com, and the Ottawa Citizen.

Georgia focus on mental health system stirs optimism

Accessible park is built to foster relationship between kids

Columnist: PTSD diagnosis can affect the whole family

Sinead O’Connor on her bipolar disorder diagnosis