We can't treat bipolar and depression with great success because... Cannabis is illegal. Many conditions are well controlled with this free plant.


since it he was mentioned in comments here is a recent sift about ben goldacre

http://videosift.com/video/TED-Battling-Bad-Science-Ben-Goldacre

I seriously thought you may have some connection to Hewlett Packard (stock symbol: HPQ)

In reply to this comment by hpqp:
1. One of my earliest memories is being on a boat between Japan and Korea during a sea storm. Rolling around in the room as the boat was rocked was terrible fun to the 3-year-old I was.

2. I been to more countries then I care to mention. People are really all the same all over. I hate big cities.

3. Played in a mine field for a whole afternoon. The next day a farmer died there. For the year we lived on Croatia's border we could hear/feel the bombs shake the house.

4. Am often told I do not act my gender. Sometimes I play it up on purpose.

5. Am not afraid of nor particularly moved by death. This causes me problems with my family when relatives/siblings die.

6. Am a pretty good shot with both ARs and handguns, even won a few medals in my teens. Stopped shooting because the atmosphere at the club was sexist/macho. At least I'm ready for the Zombie Apocalypse, and can take photos without a tripod at 1" exposure.

7. Like to use quotes from an opponent in a debate to attack their argument. Like to debate in general. i can be argumentative just for the sake of being contrary.

8. I dreamed of being multi-lingual as a child. I'm better at writing than talking. I was the first (and only) in my family to go to University.

9. Grew up in a fundie christian family. Read the Bible innumerable amount of times, learned verses and whole chapters by heart. Am now atheist and antitheist, like most of my family.

10. Been diagnosed schizoide, borderline, bipolar, etc. Take antidepressants to avoid incapacitating breakdowns.

11. 90% of my waking life has been spent procrastinating. VS is my latest fix, and the only online community I've ever become a part of.

12. I love dreaming. Most of my best memories are from my dreams. I daydream often, but retain full situational awareness. Lucid dreaming is awesome.

13. All of the major injuries I've sustained were self-inflicted, albeit by accident. Never broke a bone, but my body is always sore (and not always in a good way).

14. Originally left-handed, but forced to be right-handed during childhood because left-handedness is of the devil. Leftie is now my primary masturbation hand <img src="http://cdn.videosift.com/cdm/emoticon/xd3.gif" class="smiley" />

15. I watch porn at least once a week. Consider myself a feminist.

16. Grew up around boys. I don't really count my first time as my first time. Hardly any one I know knows about my first time.

17. Have never been in a successful relationship. Longest and most enjoyable was as someone's lover/fuckbuddy.

18. I have no patience for stupid people.

19. I've never even been tempted to try drugs, cigarettes. Stopped drinking before turning 18. I have little enough control of my brain and emotions as is.

20. I love cinema, I think cinema is humanity reflected, our dreams, desires, hopes, fears and experiences. When watching a movie, I am frequently the only person laughing.

21. I don't really like being the center of attention.

22. My profile name is not an acronym. When I started using the webs I wanted a username that was anonymous and meaningless to all but myself. It is supposed to be an obscurely emoticon-ish version of Robby the Robot from Forbidden Planet.

23. Forbidden Planet freaked me out when I first saw it as a kid. It is still one of my favourite sci-fi movies. I would like to write an SF novel, but fear I lack the discipline and talent.

24. Like to think I'm special/unique, but know that I'm not. Some of this list is copy-pasta'd from others' posts, but also applies for me. (can you find which parts? : )

25. I still have absolutely no clue what I want to do with my life.

1. One of my earliest memories is being on a boat between Japan and Korea during a sea storm. Rolling around in the room as the boat was rocked was terrible fun to the 3-year-old I was.

2. I been to more countries then I care to mention. People are really all the same all over. I hate big cities.

3. Played in a mine field for a whole afternoon. The next day a farmer died there. For the year we lived on Croatia's border we could hear/feel the bombs shake the house.

4. Am often told I do not act my gender. Sometimes I play it up on purpose.

5. Am not afraid of nor particularly moved by death. This causes me problems with my family when relatives/siblings die.

6. Am a pretty good shot with both ARs and handguns, even won a few medals in my teens. Stopped shooting because the atmosphere at the club was sexist/macho. At least I'm ready for the Zombie Apocalypse, and can take photos without a tripod at 1" exposure.

7. Like to use quotes from an opponent in a debate to attack their argument. Like to debate in general. i can be argumentative just for the sake of being contrary.

8. I dreamed of being multi-lingual as a child. I'm better at writing than talking. I was the first (and only) in my family to go to University.

9. Grew up in a fundie christian family. Read the Bible innumerable amount of times, learned verses and whole chapters by heart. Am now atheist and antitheist, like most of my family.

10. Been diagnosed schizoide, borderline, bipolar, etc. Take antidepressants to avoid incapacitating breakdowns.

11. 90% of my waking life has been spent procrastinating. VS is my latest fix, and the only online community I've ever become a part of.

12. I love dreaming. Most of my best memories are from my dreams. I daydream often, but retain full situational awareness. Lucid dreaming is awesome.

13. All of the major injuries I've sustained were self-inflicted, albeit by accident. Never broke a bone, but my body is always sore (and not always in a good way).

14. Originally left-handed, but forced to be right-handed during childhood because left-handedness is of the devil. Leftie is now my primary masturbation hand

15. I watch porn at least once a week. Consider myself a feminist.

16. Grew up around boys. I don't really count my first time as my first time. Hardly any one I know knows about my first time.

17. Have never been in a successful relationship. Longest and most enjoyable was as someone's lover/fuckbuddy.

18. I have no patience for stupid people.

19. I've never even been tempted to try drugs, cigarettes. Stopped drinking before turning 18. I have little enough control of my brain and emotions as is.

20. I love cinema, I think cinema is humanity reflected, our dreams, desires, hopes, fears and experiences. When watching a movie, I am frequently the only person laughing.

21. I don't really like being the center of attention.

22. My profile name is not an acronym. When I started using the webs I wanted a username that was anonymous and meaningless to all but myself. It is supposed to be an obscurely emoticon-ish version of Robby the Robot from Forbidden Planet.

23. Forbidden Planet freaked me out when I first saw it as a kid. It is still one of my favourite sci-fi movies. I would like to write an SF novel, but fear I lack the discipline and talent.

24. Like to think I'm special/unique, but know that I'm not. Some of this list is copy-pasta'd from others' posts, but also applies for me. (can you find which parts? )

25. I still have absolutely no clue what I want to do with my life.

>> ^Boise_Lib:


You're right EDD; I should have labeled my sarcastic remark as such.
I'm Manic-Depressive myself, so should know not to joke about a serious disease which plagues many people.


Fuck that, I'm a bipolar type 1 myself. does that mean i can't laugh ass off about it? and why should i not be able to do that? is all humbug. i laugh _with_ cripples, retards, asians, africans, europeans, americans, australians, _and_ normal people. try and stop me.

>> ^kronosposeidon:

One of my favorite Biblical passages, Exodus 32:26-28:

32:26 Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD's side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.
32:27 And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour.
32:28 And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.

Nice comedy from him while he was young...

but also an interesting parallel with what he's said since about his struggle with bipolar disorder.

I know Stephen Fry has been quite candid with his experiences with bipolar disorder. I'm surprised the panel didn't get the answer immediatly.

haha! ♥

i won't get into the bipolar stuff again, because you already know what i think. instead i want to touch on something you mentioned. in clinical psychology, it has long been known that the patient-practioner relationship (or whatever you'd like to call it, "therapeutic alliance" etc) is beneficial. in essence, it is an instantiation of a placebo-like effect. a patient forms (or already has) expectations about treatment outcomes, and these expectations do in fact produce effects (through a number of mechanisms -- i'll spare you the thesis).

as a scientist, but also a caring member of the human race, this creates a dilemma.

on the one hand, i feel it is important to point out the potential harm of alternative medicine, because we know its effects, if any, are placebo -- and placebo effects are neither consistent nor universal. in other words, you have a better chance of fortuitous outcome with scientifically proven medicine -- medicine that has been rigorously tested against placebos.

on the other hand, the fact that placebo effects produce measurable improvements across a wide range of illnesses raises important questions. what qualifies as a real treatment? what separates a real treatment from an unreal treatment? why should treatments that improve, heal, or cure people be treated as inferior because their underlying mechanism is psychological rather than pharmacological? is deception ever morally acceptable?

when you think about it, the kinds of rituals that produce these "common factor" effects will be exacerbated in alternative medicine -- because there IS no active substance. but far from being null and void, these rituals can lead to improvement (in certain situations, the boundaries of which we do not clearly understand because, as i've opined before: science is hard; science of human behaviour is fucking hard).

[disclaimer: i use 'placebo effect' in a very broad sense to mean more than what most people would consider it to mean. really i should be using 'expectancy effect' but people unfamiliar with the literature might be even more confused by that.]

>> ^enoch:

p.s:dont feel bad trashing this dudes videos.berticus has to hold his down from exploding when i post one of this guys vids.

Sounds like the illness in general goes along with what I've seen my brother do. I guess mono-polar means they are in a constant manic state or vice versa and never come off that. My brother is most prominent when he's manic....because frankly he's just annoying as can be. He can do everything better than you, but he never finishes anything. You can't talk him out of things, blah blah... He got locked up for a bit due to the drug possession and being on house arrest because of his outbursts in court. No one could stand to leave him in the house due to his constant yammering and then he started spending all his money on frivolous crap....canceled his health insurance that he wasn't even paying. My parents had me kill the internet connection to his room, the phone line, and started me on terminating his cell phone so he couldn't fuck up anything else. And before they got the cell phone away from him, he called the police on my parents. He was ordered by the judge to take medication, he eventually refused to comply and when my parents finally admitted he was not taking his meds...they took two days to come get him. During which he didn't believe it, thought my parents were screwing with him. He was shocked to see the police at the door and refused to leave the house for them because he was on house arrest. I mean it's like a comedy skit if you didn't realize that he was so totally twisted in his thinking that everything he did was perfectly correct. And it wasn't but maybe 2-3 days in jail after being removed from the house and held until trial, 5-6 guys kicked his ass. They broke his shoulder badly enough that they had to get a surgical consult and multiple scans to determine if it needed operated on. His arm was essentially useless for almost 2 months...he couldn't lift it much beyond his waist. And they knocked him out, split his head open on the floor..... he's still trying to get his case heard....that he should haven't been put in the public population since they had never had him in there before when he was acting in the same irrational manner.

Even now with treatment, none of what he did above is wrong in his eyes. He was in jail because the police decided to put him in jail without provocation. He had the right to spend all his money because he earned it, never mind he had a lot of bills due to all of this plus a tow and storage bill he still owed for getting caught with drugs in a vehicle that was my parents. He had the right to cancel his insurance, because it wasn't doing anything for him anyway. And keep in mind the insurance is what covered the majority of his therapies to deal with his arm...the jail would not repay anything but the initial visit/consult. He still won't admit that it was stupid as hell to cancel his insurance with everything going on and them wanting him to get medical treatment on his mental disorder by court order. Calling the cops on my parents for cutting off his net access, cell phone and telephone in his room......that was my parents fault because they violated his "civil rights". Never mind the fact that they didn't have to consent to house arrest to get him out of jail or that he was a TOTAL asshole during that whole period and for months prior. It was never his fault......and still to this day isn't his fault. Even for a lot of the dumb shit he does now, but at least you can convince him to stop doing it.

It's literally like trying to deal with a child or delusional elderly person, but he has all the rights of an adult and the physical strength to really hurt someone if it came to that. The police won't/can't act unless you have guardianship over a person in this circumstance or they pose an immediate threat to others or themselves. I saw the cops trying to help, they would try to insult him and push him toward action instead of words. To the outside observer it would seem like they were picking the fight because they are bullies, but the choice was "get him help" or "remove him from the house with no where to go in a really fucked up mental state". It was clear he would be dead within a month if he was left to his own devices, and the jail beating was just an example of that. People wouldn't tolerate his bullshit, and he couldn't comprehend any of it.

>> ^Sagemind:

Also to note: There is no cure for this this.
You don't wake up one day and think clearly - this is something that will follow him around for the rest of his life.
Yes, there are prescriptions that can be taken to help balance out the brain chemistry. And only if you can get him to take them. Even once he is accepting treatment, it can go sideways at any time. And when it does, it's an awful chore to get back to square one. He may never "Look Back" on this and see what we see.
Sad but true....

>> ^MycroftHomlz:

There is just no way he is not on drugs.


At this point, "not on drugs" doesn't bring him much closer to average brain chemistry.
I doubt that even he would claim that his brain is the same as it was before the binging... He's just saying that he is fine with the new equilibrium.

Enjoying yourself is fine, maybe even getting out of control a little is fine. Drunk driving is not fine. Making other people suffer unduly to your decisions/passions/whatever (whether that be any kind of abuse of drugs or drink, racing your car down the freeway, setting fire to your house in a rage, and whatever else you can come up with that are VERY extreme cases but still under your control) is not good. And then on top of that expecting to win in a court if people refuse to put up with your bullshit effecting their livelihoods and lives overall.....that's just blatantly clear to the non-insane people of the world.

If he wants to go out in a blaze of locking hookers in closets and bathrooms and snorting/shooting/swallowing anything he can find into his body..more power to him. Just be prepared for your estate to cover the expenses of the hotels you've trashed, and also don't try to fight it when you lose your job for not being able to perform your job duties.

This kind of behavior is either mental illness or he's been diagnosed with some terminal disease and he's said fuck it and plans to blow his money on the way out.

>> ^NinjaInHeat:

Rocknroll Charlie boy. The only thing that bothers me about this interview is how much disdain this conforming bitch has for hedonism, that and the fact that he agreed to entertain this retarded interview in the first place, he should know better. Some people like to enjoy life, some people can't grasp that notion. I like how black and white "normal" people think the mind of a drug user is. As if when one is using he is immediately completely physically addicted, he is sick and needs help, he does everything not out of choice but as a result of having a sick mind. Some people choose to take drugs, some people manage their addictions and even embrace them to certain extents. If you don't understand that that's fine, no one asks you to understand, just accept.

That could all be very well true, but it's not for me or you to decide, just for him. I defend his right as an adult to choose these things, choose them without having the entire world tell him it's not a choice that he made but a succumbing to some mental illness. If he leaves his children fatherless, I still would.

I didn't mean he was necessarily in control of them, that's why I also said some embrace their addictions. It's the complete unwillingness of other people to accept the fact an adult can make that choice that bothers me. If he had no wife? No children? Would his habits be acceptable then? It's not easy to admit but many find more solace in hedonistic pursuits than they do in what is generally accepted as healthy/productive/"good". And even when they "want" to quit, don't make the mistake of thinking that when they don't it's not at all the product of rational thought. Drugs are wonderful, they can take all your cares away, they can make you experience things you would be unable to without them. A user uses first and foremost because he enjoys using, accepting that is healthier than not.

>> ^spoco2:

>> ^NinjaInHeat:
Rocknroll Charlie boy. The only thing that bothers me about this interview is how much disdain this conforming bitch has for hedonism, that and the fact that he agreed to entertain this retarded interview in the first place, he should know better. Some people like to enjoy life, some people can't grasp that notion. I like how black and white "normal" people think the mind of a drug user is. As if when one is using he is immediately completely physically addicted, he is sick and needs help, he does everything not out of choice but as a result of having a sick mind. Some people choose to take drugs, some people manage their addictions and even embrace them to certain extents. If you don't understand that that's fine, no one asks you to understand, just accept.

Really? You seem to think that not being 'normal' is a noble thing, and it is. To be unique, different, original is great. But Charlie is not any of these things. He is just another person who has physiological issues and has chosen drugs and alcohol to treat them.
And now he has had an 'epiphany' and sees everything so clearly, and has fixed his own brain. Yeah, well, I'm sure he thinks he has at the moment, but will you be championing him in the near future when he has crashed back to reality and has discovered that what he thought was the answer to life, the universe and everything was bullshit, and that he will have to self medicate again and then, whoops, he's dead, he died via suicide or accidental overdose or combination of things that should never be combined?
Will you still be championing him then? When he has left his kids with no father? When they will forever look to their dad as a fuckup who didn't get the help he needed when he should have?
HE has not got his addiction under control, he has problems, they will end his life very early. That is not to be applauded.

>> ^NinjaInHeat:

Rocknroll Charlie boy. The only thing that bothers me about this interview is how much disdain this conforming bitch has for hedonism, that and the fact that he agreed to entertain this retarded interview in the first place, he should know better. Some people like to enjoy life, some people can't grasp that notion. I like how black and white "normal" people think the mind of a drug user is. As if when one is using he is immediately completely physically addicted, he is sick and needs help, he does everything not out of choice but as a result of having a sick mind. Some people choose to take drugs, some people manage their addictions and even embrace them to certain extents. If you don't understand that that's fine, no one asks you to understand, just accept.


Really? You seem to think that not being 'normal' is a noble thing, and it is. To be unique, different, original is great. But Charlie is not any of these things. He is just another person who has physiological issues and has chosen drugs and alcohol to treat them.

And now he has had an 'epiphany' and sees everything so clearly, and has fixed his own brain. Yeah, well, I'm sure he thinks he has at the moment, but will you be championing him in the near future when he has crashed back to reality and has discovered that what he thought was the answer to life, the universe and everything was bullshit, and that he will have to self medicate again and then, whoops, he's dead, he died via suicide or accidental overdose or combination of things that should never be combined?

Will you still be championing him then? When he has left his kids with no father? When they will forever look to their dad as a fuckup who didn't get the help he needed when he should have?

HE has not got his addiction under control, he has problems, they will end his life very early. That is not to be applauded.

My brother acted a lot like him. Drug use and bipolar disorder. They can answer a question and it might sound like they actually believe it or mean it. As the conversation continues, their viewpoint/excuse/answer will change to similar questions and when you point it out to them you don't understand. But if you just let them talk and don't show any kind of opinion or show any kind of agenda or direction in your questions, they will just keep on answering your questions with what you might think is a smartass response until you look at them all and see the insanity and at best circular logic if any logic can be applied.

And the drug use switch on/off.......my brother totally did that. Also claimed he wasn't addicted, even though he talks about marijuana and how good it is for you even now. If you listen to him, most diseases would be cured by it, car accidents would never happen, you think more clearly, it doesn't have any negative side effects on your lungs or health, you can't die from it or do something that could cause your death while under the effects of it, people would never lace it with anything, etc etc. Basically your standard miracle cure all, never suffer from anything ever if you had it whether it be food shortage or money issues. Never mind the fact that the stuff pretty much fucked his world sideways on multiple occasions because he couldn't moderate his usage. It was all in all the time, or never touch the stuff.....until he couldn't stand it anymore and back into all in. Oh and it's not a gateway drug ever for anyone, despite the fact that he moved into other "stuff" every single time.

And now that he's more like an actual human being, he talks about how the drugs that bring him back to human status make him feel bad. Because when you're bipolar, you go from feeling super amped can accomplish anything in 2 hours or less to feeling like doing anything at all is a major task and will probably kill you. I mean you could see him flip from one to the other, and even now on script drugs still see it.

The problem with the disease in general is that only the naturally violent ones actually get treatment forced on them. Unless you do something or say something that would indicate you might harm others police typically don't do anything, and when it comes to yourself..they only seem to act if you say you're going to kill yourself. And often times even if they do act and put you on a medical hold, the doctors at the facilities can hold you for 72 hours and release you at any time unless they find cause to show you might be off the deep end, no possible way you could function in society kind of insane.

Your video, Charlie Sheen Says He's 'Not Bipolar but 'Bi-Winning', has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.