I see many people who have mental illness fall into a classical trap, of which I was no exception. It is the dilemma: “Should I seek the help of classical Western psychiatry or try alternative medicine approaches instead?” I first tried positive affirmations like “I love and approve of myself,” in 2004, when I was so depressed and felt so defeated that I thought: “I cannot fall any deeper, so why not try the positive affirmations from books by Louise Hay next to taking the medication prescribed by my psychiatrist?” The sentences said out loud in front of a mirror only started working after...

When I started writing the book about balancing bipolar disorder in me, I automatically wrote in a humorous fashion. Later, after having written the first chapters of ‘Balancing the Beast. A Bright View of Schizoaffective Disorder ― Bipolar or Manic-Depressive Type’, I got many “messages” telling me that I had chosen the right style of writing. The “messages” came in the form of coincidence: – While researching books written by mental health consumers, I found out that most of them were written in a serious way. Thus there might be a greater need for humorous books. – My...

It was only after I had come out of the closet with my mental problems that I realized how much the stigma of mental illness is an inner and not an outer problem. In my opinion the real problem is the prejudice I have of me not the prejudice others have of me as a mental health consumer. This opinion definitely proved right, when I told a group of total strangers at a marketing seminar that I have schizoaffective disorder – bipolar type. The result was that a manager of a software company promised to provide a computer engineer to design this page for free. And he really did that! See a blog about...

It has been some time now since I wrote my last post on these pages. It was one and a half month ago. Since then much has happened. Three things stand out. The first one is the Phyllis Krystal seminar that was held in Munich from 16th to 21st of March. I was able to attend the third session of her Training Program. It was another experience of what can be achieved in your life if you put enough effort to it combined with positive attitude. Phyllis is 97 now and has had a minor injury recently. This did not prevent her to appear on a wheel chair and perform a four-day seminar as usually. She explained...