And an onion consists of layers: Layer 1: My Thoughtful and Careful Character In itself it is not problematic, as long as I do not exaggerate. I believe it is the layers below that make me exaggerate. Layer 2: My Diagnosis – Schizoaffective Disorder My psychiatrist was successful at giving me the right medication for quieting down the bio-chemical aspect of worrying more than 10 years ago. However I believe a mental patient needs to take care of other aspects of mental illness as well. To cure my mind I did a lot of mental work next to taking medication. See the next layers below. Layer 3: Playing...

This title definitely sounds better than: “Face it – you have bipolar disorder.” Or: “Face it – you have schizoaffective disorder.” Or: “Face it – you have a mental illness.” Why? Simply because of the stigma that is attached to the words like: bipolar disorder, schizoaffective disorder or mental illness. We can look at stigma from two sides: from the outer side and from the inner one. Looking at it from the outer side means how other people treat us. There are many campaigns that fight this kind of prejudice that healthy people have against people with mental illnesses. On the other...

A few weeks ago I was at a psychiatric clinic again. Luckily not admitted to a locked ward. No, I am joking. I was not there as a psychiatric patient with schizoaffective disorder this time. I was there as a book author. I handed over a copy of my new book to Professor Rok Tavčar, MD, PhD, Psychiatrist, Head of the Rehabilitation Department, Psychiatric Clinic of Ljubljana. I wished to thank him for having peer-reviewed my manuscript and for having written a testimonial for my book. Professor Tavčar was the last psychiatrist I visited in order to thank them for having helped me with the book. But he...

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...