Bipolar Disorder Related Content

Yale Hicks told his college friends in New Orleans that he cut short his junior year abroad in Ghana because of malaria. “I lied to everybody, including myself,” said Hicks, who was experiencing hallucinations associated with what was eventually diagnosed as bipolar disorder . “I was about 21, and...

If a journey of a thousand miles begins with a step, what is better than having someone along with whom to share it? That is the philosophy behind the peer counseling program at McLean Hospital’s Division of Psychotic Disorders . “A lot of people with these conditions have difficulty working outside...

McLean Hospital’s Ross J. Baldessarini, MD , director of the International Consortium for Bipolar & Psychotic Disorders Research, has been awarded the 2019 Mogens Schou Award from the International Society for Bipolar Disorders (ISBD). Named for a pioneer in the treatment of bipolar disorder, the...

Ross J. Baldessarini, MD , originally thought he wanted to be an industrial organic chemist, not a doctor. The prospect of medical school didn’t thrill the Williams College chemistry major. He found it to be more like a trade school than an academic endeavor, not to mention it being “cutthroat and...

Monica Luke knows what it’s like to care deeply about someone with schizophrenia. Her son, now 37, had his first psychotic break at age 20 and hasn’t spoken to her in a decade. Although she’s pained by the estrangement, she’s thankful for one thing: she could use his college fund to pay for his care...

Researchers at McLean Hospital, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, have discovered for the first time that computerized brain training can result in improved cognitive skills in individuals with bipolar disorder. In a paper published in the October 17, 2017, edition of The Journal of Clinical...

McLean Hospital’s Chloe Pedalino, LICSW, says that individuals receive “wraparound care while they’re in the hospital, but they don’t always get that care after discharge.” This is one reason McLean is launching its new Program of Assertive Community Treatment (PACT). The program will bring...

Andrew Smith was an avid sports fan. Always a contrarian, he rooted for the team his family wasn’t supporting. He had a quirky sense of humor, loved chatting on the phone, and taking long walks, often stopping for pizza. When he died in 2011 at age 30, after struggling for years with schizophrenia...

In early 2016, when McLean Hospital completed the new wing of the Admissions Building, the need for its additional 31 beds was immediately—and dramatically—clear. “Within the week, we were already at capacity,” said Jeanne McElhinney, MS, RN, BC , nurse director for the Schizophrenia and Bipolar...

After taking dozens of photos of trains at commuter rail stations, Susan Camuti finally captured the image she was seeking. Using a specialized app on her smartphone, she transformed the image of an approaching train to depict what her mania feels like. “When I feel manic, it feels like a train is...

Collaboration is key to research at McLean, leading to landmark findings that go beyond the sum of the parts. Deborah L. Levy, PhD , director of the Psychology Research Laboratory, recently led one such meeting of the minds. Working closely with Laura Godfrey, RPh, J. Alexander Bodkin, MD , Michael...

Like all programs at McLean, we take tremendous pride in the care we provide to our patients at the Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder Inpatient Program (AB2). We have long created a culture of caring that extends beyond our patient population that is felt by our staff, including the residents and...