The Upside of Bipolar: Conversations on the Road to Wellness

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In this life-changing conversation author Dr. Danny Penman shares:

• His extraordinary personal discovery of the power of meditation,
• How he came to partner with Professor Mark Williams to write their first book Mindfulness: An Eight-week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World,
• The profound discoveries that led to their new book Deeper Mindfulness: The New Way to Rediscover Calm in a Chaotic World,
• What Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is and its benefits in aiding in mental healing,
• How important it is to not judge yourself for HOW you are meditating, rather recognize that you are succeeding when you are practicing,
• The “mind gym” analogy and how it will help you have more beneficial mindfulness practices,
• How understanding the way our minds work and practicing mindfulness help us to experience the world in a healthier way to enable us to live happier and more fulfilling lives,
• That mindfulness meditation is a complementary treatment to other healing modalities, and
• The power in consistent practice–even if you think you are doing it badly–because every time you practice you learn something and benefit.

Website: franticworld.com
New Book: Deeper Mindfulness: The New Way to Rediscover Calm in a Chaotic World
Instagram: @drdannypenman
Facebook: @drdannypenman
Twitter: @drdannypenman

Bio:
Dr. Danny Penman is a mindfulness teacher and bestselling author. He is co-author, with Professor Mark Williams of Oxford University, of the acclaimed Mindfulness: An Eight Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World. This book is credited with popularising mindfulness and is now prescribed across the UK’s National Health Service for such conditions as anxiety, stress, depression and chronic pain. In 2014, he won the British Medical Association’s Best Book (Popular Medicine) Award for You are Not Your Pain: Using Mindfulness to Relieve Pain, Reduce Stress, and Restore Well-Being (co-written with Vidyamala Burch). His books have sold over two million copies across 34 languages and his journalism has appeared in the Daily Mail, New Scientist, and The Guardian. 

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 The Upside of Bipolar: 7 Steps to Heal Your Disorder: @upsideofbipolar | Linktree

website: https://theupsideofbipolar.com/

email: [email protected]

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theupsideofbipolar/

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In this profoundly revealing conversation award winning author and investigative journalist Robert Whitaker shares:

• How his background as Director of Publications at Harvard Medical School and his experience starting a publishing company covering the business of clinical trials led him to begin investigating the history psychiatry,
• The questions that prompted his first book on psychiatry Mad In America,
• The questions that prompted the writing of his second book on psychiatry Anatomy of an Epidemic,
• How the chemical imbalance theory of mental illness was proved false by the 1980s but continued to be perpetuated,
• How psychiatric medications actually create chemical imbalances in the brain by perturbing normal brain function,
• His evidence-based approach to investigating the long-term impact of psychiatric medication treatment on mental illnesses,
• The attempt to discredit his work by trying to discredit him rather than finding any fault in his research,
• How the tribal nature of medical training actually prevents any progress in identifying true pathways to healing mental illness,
• Why he started his website to madinamerica.com to rethink psychiatry in ways that lead to healing and recovery,
• Why we need to replace the message that mental illness is incurable with a message of hope, because there is every reason to believe that people can heal and recover.

Website: www.madinamerica.com 

Books: 
Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill
Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America

Bio:

Robert Whitaker is the author of five books, three of which tell of the history of psychiatry. In 2010, his book Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness won the U.S. Investigative Reporters and Editors book award for best investigative journalism. Prior to writing books, he worked as a science reporter at the Albany Times Union newspaper in New York for a number of years. He is the founder of madinamerica.com, a website that features research news and blogs by an international group of writers interested in “rethinking psychiatry.”

FREE Mood Cycle Survival Guide: https://theupsideofbipolar.com/free/

 The Upside of Bipolar: 7 Steps to Heal Your Disorder: @upsideofbipolar | Linktree

website: https://theupsideofbipolar.com/

email: [email protected]

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theupsideofbipolar/

TikTok: theupsideofbipolar (@theupsideofbipolar) | TikTok

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theupsideofbipolar/

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In this insightful conversation Anushri Nanavati shares:

• Her story of mental health struggles and diagnosis including incredibly vulnerable accounts of manic episodes and hospitalizations,
• Some of the challenges of bipolar awareness–or lack of it–in other countries,
• How she found an outlet for her struggles in her poetry, and
• One of her poems from her new book that is being published.

Instagram: @birdsbonesandmelancholia

Website: www.anushrinanavati.com 

Bio:

Anushri is the founder of Haiku & Hymns classes for children in Ahmedabad, India, where she teaches a variety of subjects, including creative writing, literature, language, psychology, history, and foreign languages. Passionate about self-expression and social justice, the aim of her courses is to promote global citizenship and empathy in her students. She is an external instructor for Cambridge International Assessments.

Fascinated by words in general, Anushri has perused over eight languages, and is fluent in five of them. Her knowledge of languages imbibes a certain richness in her writing, which dabbles in Latin, Italian, and a bit of French as well here and there. 

Anushri has a degree in Psychology and a background in curriculum design. She has worked in international schools to help design English courses for various age groups, mentored teenagers under the Lions Club Skills for Adolescence program, and used her training in psychoanalysis and Intensive Short Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) to work as a therapist for a brief time.

Based in the business hub of Ahmedabad, Anushri hopes to contribute to the growing cultural movement in the city, which will enable children from all backgrounds to have more opportunities to pursue a liberal arts education, like that of her own.

FREE Mood Cycle Survival Guide: https://theupsideofbipolar.com/free/

 The Upside of Bipolar: 7 Steps to Heal Your Disorder: @upsideofbipolar | Linktree

website: https://theupsideofbipolar.com/

email: [email protected]

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theupsideofbipolar/

TikTok: theupsideofbipolar (@theupsideofbipolar) | TikTok

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theupsideofbipolar/

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In this empowering conversation Colby Robbins shares:

• Her story of her initial diagnosis of anxiety and IBS and her challenges with medications and terrible side-effects,
• How medication changes led to a bipolar diagnosis,
• How her journey to find holistic healing for her IBS led her to discover holistic psychiatry, and
• How titrating off of her medications safely guided by Dr. Jennifer Giordano helped her to start her path towards healing.

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Bio:
I’m Colby, I just turned 22 in April. I’ve had my own pet sitting/retail business for almost 4 years and I will be enrolling into The Institute for Integrative Nutrition in the fall to become a mental health coach. I spend my time reading romance and watching Turkish dramas but I look most forward to attending concerts again with my sister when my mental health is more stable!! 

Previous Episodes Referenced: 

Episode 8: The Holistic Path to Healing with Dr. Jennifer Giordano

Episode 13: The Power of Nutrition in Healing Mental Illness with Dr. Bonnie Kaplan

Episode 15: True Hope for Healing Bipolar with David Stephan, VP Truehope Canada

FREE Mood Cycle Survival Guide: https://theupsideofbipolar.com/free/

 The Upside of Bipolar: 7 Steps to Heal Your Disorder: @upsideofbipolar | Linktree

website: https://theupsideofbipolar.com/

email: [email protected]

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theupsideofbipolar/

TikTok: theupsideofbipolar (@theupsideofbipolar) | TikTok

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theupsideofbipolar/

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My husband, who is a very private person, kindly agreed to relate his side of the story.  In this conversation he shares:

• What it was like early in our marriage when I was really struggling with mood swings,
• What it was like for him during my breakdown, hospitalizations and suicide attempts,
• How he supported my efforts to heal, and
• The important role therapy played in helping us heal our marriage.

Bio:

Scott has been married to Michelle for 21 years. They have four children, a dog and have lived in six states during their marriage. Scott's favorite therapy modality is golfing.

FREE Mood Cycle Survival Guide: https://theupsideofbipolar.com/free/

 The Upside of Bipolar: 7 Steps to Heal Your Disorder: @upsideofbipolar | Linktree

website: https://theupsideofbipolar.com/

email: [email protected]

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theupsideofbipolar/

TikTok: theupsideofbipolar (@theupsideofbipolar) | TikTok

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theupsideofbipolar/

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In this incredible conversation Dr. Tara Peyman, a naturopathic doctor, shares:

• How she became a naturopathic doctor focused on mental health,
• What an initial intake involves for a new patient,
• How getting to the root causes of bipolar symptoms helps people to heal,
• How she determines if medication should remain part of a treatment plan,
• Healing vs. Cure, 
• How an integrated approach to healthcare leads to true healing, and
• Tips for identifying if a naturopathic treatment approach could be beneficial for you.

Links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drpeyman_imhc/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drtarapeyman
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tarapeyman/
Website: https://www.imhcaz.com

**For 10% off the initial consultation mention “The Upside of Bipolar”**

Bio:
Dr. Tara Peyman has a focus in the homeopathic and integrative treatment of mental illness. She has a particular interest in bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, OCD, complex trauma, and dissociation. She is also a PESI-Certified Clinical Trauma Professional. She is familiar with psychiatric medications and can assist patients in either reducing the need for prescriptions, or safely integrating them with naturopathic care if that is best for the patient. Dr. Peyman found inspiration to focus her medical practice on homeopathic treatment of mental health after she overcame her own depression and panic disorder, which started when she was in college. She found total relief with homeopathic medicine, under the care of a doctor who was later one of her homeopathy teachers in medical school. Bipolar disorder runs in her family, so she has a personal perspective on this condition, and this allows her to have a level of compassion and understanding that patients can really feel. Her experiences motivate her to help as many people as she can to reach a place of healthy remission.

FREE Mood Cycle Survival Guide: https://theupsideofbipolar.com/free/

 The Upside of Bipolar: 7 Steps to Heal Your Disorder: @upsideofbipolar | Linktree

website: https://theupsideofbipolar.com/

email: [email protected]

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theupsideofbipolar/

TikTok: theupsideofbipolar (@theupsideofbipolar) | TikTok

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theupsideofbipolar/

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I have been accused of being “dangerous” for sharing my experience with micronutrients helping me heal my bipolar. In this episode I share:

• How I suffered for 12 years on medication,
• How the path to healing started with micronutrients,
• The most beneficial books that helped me understand the science behind the tools that helped me heal:
  • Anatomy of an Epidemic by Robert Whitaker
  • The Better Brain by Bonnie Kaplan, PhD and Julia Rucklidge, PhD
  • The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D.
  • Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World by Mark Williams and Danny Penman
  • A Promise of Hope by Autumn Stringham

Episodes I reference in this episode:

• EP 8: The Holistic Path to Healing Bipolar with Dr. Jennifer Giordano
• EP 13: The Power of Nutrition in Healing Mental Illness with Dr. Bonnie Kaplan
• EP 15: True Hope for Healing Bipolar with David Stephan, VP Truehope Canada

FREE Mood Cycle Survival Guide: https://theupsideofbipolar.com/free/

 The Upside of Bipolar: 7 Steps to Heal Your Disorder: @upsideofbipolar | Linktree

website: https://theupsideofbipolar.com/

email: [email protected]

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theupsideofbipolar/

TikTok: theupsideofbipolar (@theupsideofbipolar) | TikTok

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theupsideofbipolar/

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This is my favorite conversation I’ve had so far (which is saying a lot). In this episode David Stephan, Vice President of Operations of Truehope shares:

• The story of how the micronutrient treatment was discovered and the founding of Truehope,
• The lawsuits that resulted in providing proof that this treatment is more effective than medications,
• Why this treatment is uniquely effective for treating mental illness and not like other “supplements,”
• How withdrawal from medications can mimic the symptoms of the illness but how Truehope has developed a protocol to help people through the withdrawals and heal their mind,
• Why the claim that certain ingredients in EMPowerPlus causes mania is not only false but the treatment has actually been proven to eliminate psychosis and mania and creates balance in the brain,
• The science behind why this treatment is effective in treating the cause of mental illness,
• How nutrient deficiency creates dysfunction in the brain, and
• How this company stays intentionally mission driven to help people heal.

Instagram: @truehopecanada

YouTube: @truehopecanada

Facebook: truehopecanada

Vimeo: Truehope Canada

TikTok: @truehopecanada

Twitter: @truehopecanada

Bio

Over the past 20 years, David Stephan has worked extensively with Truehope, a research-based organization with a passion for providing individuals with groundbreaking micronutrient solutions for overcoming mental illness. During this time, he has been involved in leading edge discoveries that have not only provided significant transformation in thousands of lives but have also been scientifically validated in dozens of independent studies from universities around the world. As such, David feels it a privilege and duty to share the knowledge that not only changed his life, but has also allowed for well over 100,000 others to transform their lives as well. 

FREE Mood Cycle Survival Guide: https://theupsideofbipolar.com/free/

 The Upside of Bipolar: 7 Steps to Heal Your Disorder: @upsideofbipolar | Linktree

website: https://theupsideofbipolar.com/

email: [email protected]

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theupsideofbipolar/

TikTok: theupsideofbipolar (@theupsideofbipolar) | TikTok

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theupsideofbipolar/

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In this wonderful conversation with author Leah Nash she shares:

• Her harrowing story of trauma, diagnosis, suicide attempt and recovery,
• How she developed a plan to keep herself balanced and safe,
• Her experience with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT),
• How dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) was a game changer her,
• Self-care tools that help her be proactive in managing her bipolar, and
• The powerful motivators that prompted her to write her book.

Instagram: @chasingnormalfindinghope

Book on Amazon: Chasing Normal Finding Hope

Bio
Leah is a mental health advocate and the author of the memoir, "Chasing Normal, Finding Hope: a decade of living with mental illness." Her diagnoses include bipolar 1 rapid cycling with psychotic features and PTSD. She is also a suicide attempt survivor. Leah is on a mission to decrease stigma surrounding mental illness and to spread the message of hope.

Leah is a single mama of three awesome boys. She also has an incredible psychiatric service dog. She and Tux, the service dog, have been doing life together for almost five years.

FREE Mood Cycle Survival Guide: https://theupsideofbipolar.com/free/

 The Upside of Bipolar: 7 Steps to Heal Your Disorder: @upsideofbipolar | Linktree

website: https://theupsideofbipolar.com/

email: [email protected]

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theupsideofbipolar/

TikTok: theupsideofbipolar (@theupsideofbipolar) | TikTok

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theupsideofbipolar/

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In this life-changing conversation with Dr. Bonnie Kaplan–a pioneer researcher in the field of nutrition and mental health–she shares:

• How she began studying the link between nutrition and mental health,
• Why she wrote her extraordinary book The Better Brain (link below),
• Macronutrients vs. micronutrients,
• Why we can’t test yet for what nutrients our brain is lacking;
• Why specialty diets aren’t always best for mental health,
• The goal of inverting the treatment model for mental illness to aid in healing, and
• What is being done to spread awareness and education about the power of nutrition to heal mental illness.

Instagram: @thebetterbrain

Website: www.bonniejkaplan.com

The Better Brain Book Website: www.thebetterbrainbook.com 

TED Talk by Dr. Rucklidge

Free Nutrition Course

Bio

Bonnie J Kaplan, PhD, is Professor Emeritus in the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary; website here. She has published widely on the contribution of nutrition to mental health. Her efforts to include nutrition knowledge in the care of people with mental health challenges has earned her a variety of awards: the Dr. Rogers Prize, selection as one of 150 Canadian Difference Makers in Mental Health, and the top “7 Over 70” in Calgary. Her book The Better Brain, was written with Professor Julia Rucklidge. Her goal is to influence the way mental health treatment is delivered.

FREE Mood Cycle Survival Guide: https://theupsideofbipolar.com/free/

 The Upside of Bipolar: 7 Steps to Heal Your Disorder: @upsideofbipolar | Linktree

website: https://theupsideofbipolar.com/

email: [email protected]

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theupsideofbipolar/

TikTok: theupsideofbipolar (@theupsideofbipolar) | TikTok

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theupsideofbipolar/