The title itself shows a certain redundancy: the word ‘own’ repeats itself twice. Similarly, over the years, despite of the whole ‘women’s lib’ thing going on, I found it totally redundant to own my own car. After 4 years of trying really hard to relax behind the wheel, I gave up driving due to a clear hallucination. Let me tell you the whole true story: I was driving in the countryside. My husband was sitting in the co-driver’s seat. Suddenly out of the blue I saw a human being trying to cross the road. I panicked, stepped off the gas and started to pull the brakes. My husband...

I will tell you a true story that I remember from my kindergarten years. I must have been 4 or 5, when this happened: We, the kids in a kindergarten group, did something bad. I don’t remember what it was anymore. But what I do remember is that the child-minder responsible for us was angry and sad. And I also remember a bitter feeling of guilt in my heart. So I spoke to my colleague Boštjan K. I chose him, because I liked him (he was a good guy). He agreed that what we did was not exactly nice. We made a plan and went through with it. We approached the child-minder. I spoke, Boštjan was there to...

As mentioned in one of my previous blogs, Joe Kraynak, co-author of ‘Bipolar Disorder for Dummies’, posted his review of my book Balancing the Beast on PsychCentral. Having been reminded again that the expression ‘mental patient’ is offensive I finally took care of my mistake. I must apologize for the content of the book that still awaits a revised edition, but a new cover has been uploaded with the printer and I have also corrected the expression in all web texts. Please let me know, if you should come across any more ‘mental patients’ that I could have left out. I would...

Western culture in my opinion is an instant culture. Look through ads for example. ‘Lose weight in a week … Lose weight without any diet or exercise … Build your muscles in a month … Lose your cellulite in a fortnight etc.’ How often do you come across and ad like this: ‘Train daily for 5 years and you will improve your self-image.’ It sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? Yes, definitely, but only to a Westerner. Traditional cultures have known for millenniums that the only true satisfaction comes from hard work and patience over years. To oppose my argument I...

These are the words of Joe Kraynak, who reviewed my book ‘Balancing the Beast’. Read the whole book review on PsychCentral. Joe Kraynak is a co-author of ‘Bipolar Disorder for Dummies’.