Coming Out Crazy wins blog award

I was crying and shaking in Dr. Bob's office this morning after an overly long hiatus between psychotherapy sessions when an announcement went out onto the Internet and into my email mailbox.

Had I known at the time, I would have saved my psychiatrist half a box of Kleenex. 

But I didn't. Instead, I made a month's worth of standing appointments because I've been overly stressed out lately and then left his office, as always, feeling 100 lbs. lighter. That's the power of talking therapy with him for me.

My husband picked me up and while we were driving home, on a whim, I pulled my iPhone out of my purse to check my email ... and there it was – the annual Top Ten Bipolar Blogs 2009 from PsychCentral.

For the second consecutive year, Coming Out Crazy made the list. I was stunned. Last week, PsychCentral launched the new Journal of Participatory Medicine on his World of Psychology blog. I figured these awards were discontinued.

Not so.

Under an introduction stressing the growing number of entrants, Sandra Kiume noted the difficulty in narrowing this year's list to 10 plus several Honourable Mentions. As far as I'm concerned, all 18 blogs named are equally worthy of this honour.

Here is what Kiume, a Vancouver-based mental health advocate and editor of Channel N said about Coming Out Crazy. This is daunting. Humbling. Blatant self-promotion isn't really my style, but here goes:

Coming Out Crazy. Sandy Naiman is fierce and fabulous. With a background in print journalism, her blog was new to the net last year and it's been fun to see her adapt to the medium – and vice-versa. Some of the perennial trolls have been buzzing around her blog, smelling fresh blood, but she deftly slaps them down with precise words soaked in reality and wisdom. Sandy is a dynamo who is an offline mental health advocate and speaker. In Coming Out Crazy, she's making gorgeous jewelry from her goldmine of experience as a person living with bipolar.

I feel privileged to be in the company of the following fascinating bloggers who have far more experience in this medium than I do.

Congratulations to The Secret Life of a Manic Depressive – I look forward to becoming acquainted with Irish-born British blogger Seaneen. I'm particularly pleased that veteran blogger Liz Spikol and The Trouble With Spikol are honoured once again. I'm a longtime fan of this well-deserving, candid and incisive Philadelphia-based journalist and blogger.

I'm anxious to get to know Joel Sax and his Pax Nortana, Amy's humourous posts at All About Bipolar, Cristina Fender's Raw Writing for the Real World Bipolar, Crazy Tracy and Time for your Meds, and Crazy Black Woman.

Phil Dawdy's Furious Seasons and John McManamy's Knowledge is Necessity are "must-reads" for anyone who wants to be well-informed about the hijinx of Big Pharma and the complexities of mood disorders. Both are informed investigative writers. 

Huge kudos to Wellness Writer, If You're Going Through Hell Keep Going, Bipolar Happens, Crazy for Life, Gus Greeper, Bipolar: Crazy Mermaid's Blog and Patient Anonymous.

Last year, I telephoned PsychCentral CEO and Founder psychologist John M. Grohol to thank him personally for supporting Coming Out Crazy in his 2008 list. Grohol, who launched PsychCentral, his groundbreaking independent Internet mental health network in 1995, said that this was a great way to spread the word and draw more people to our blogs.

In the spirit of sharing intriguing new ideas and perspectives about Bipolar Disorders, I want to thank him and Sandra Kiume for drawing to my attention many of these new voices and including mine. I look forward to reading them and referring to them in my future posts, linking to them and learning from them.

I am thrilled to be in this remarkable company, as is my editor at The Toronto Star, Brandie Weikle. It was her vision to have a Mental Health and Wellness blog on Healthzone.ca when it launched on April 8, 2008. She invited me to write it. We work as a team. And the rest is history.

Take care and speak soon!

Comments

[dr aletta]

I'm sure the award is well deserved. I look forward to reading your blog and sharing posts with my patients. Keep it up!

[susan]

Sandy you deserve it. You are number one blogger from the list in my book!!!!

I have learned a lot about blogging from you.

Susan and fur ball Holly

[Alexis]

CONGRATS!!!!

And I like what you said about talk therapy. People think people with Bipolar disorder just need to take meds--and while this has proven extremely important in my own treatment--talk therapy has proven just as important, if not more so.

[Sandy Naiman]

Hello dr aletta, Susan and Alexis,

Please forgive me for responding to all of you in one post.

Thank you for your kind support and your thoughts.

"Talk therapy" is my salvation. I still depend on my Tegretol, but without "Talk" – I wouldn't be the person I am today and I wouldn't have any insight, I suspect. I've worked so hard for it. If anything, Dr. Bob should share this award with me.

Today, I spent marking my students online journals and pop quizzes. I also realized that I've been far too hard on them, expecting too much of them.

I'm afraid the stress I've been feeling lately has transformed me into the kind of teacher I truly detest. I'm afraid I've lost my humanity with my students. That's why I've made an appointment to see the specialist at Seneca College who helps teachers learn to improve their teaching.

You must be wondering why I'm telling you this. There's a reason. I have learned that awards are given not to recognize accomplishments but to buoy us on to greater accomplishments. An award is nice on the day it is announced and/or given. The glow dims pretty quickly. Like by the next day!

I am making NO comparisons here, but..

This is why I believe President Barack Obama deserves his Nobel Peace Prize. He's changing the entire global political paradigm by his enlightened style of leadership based on his experience as a Community Organizer. Except his community is the U.S.A. and the whole world. That award will be a beacon for him, to help him to keep on going, I believe. There was wisdom and foresight in the Nobel Prize Committee in bestowing it upon him right now. Any later might be too late.

The day after the award arrives – and this isn't my first – you're left with the daunting reality that you have to keep on working even harder to live up all the accolades the award represents. This has me really challenged and rather nicely so – and worried.

I realized that I'm not the teacher I want to be and I want to get better. Be more the person I am here, with you, but in the classroom. Be a little wiser.

Can I live up to Sandra Kiume's amazing assessment of my work? I'll try my damndest! Work harder than I've been working. And hope for the best. Do the best I can.

I've lived with my psychiatric condition since I first went to see a psychiatrist back in the early 1960s, but I've only been teaching since July 2007. I have so much to learn. It is humbling and my students easily recognize when I'm not the teacher they met in September. They're confused.

I've never felt so stressed-out in my life as I have in the last few weeks. I never imagined how powerful and debilitating stress can be.

Since yesterday, I've felt a lot better, but I'm still de-stressing. So I thank you for helping me to settle down and be a better person. A better blogger. A better teacher. A better human being.

Yes, your confidence and support does that for me. As, I hope, my posts can help you!

e-Hugs and e-Kisses – they're safe in this H1N1 world we're living in right now.

I wish you health, safety, wellness in all facets of your lives.

Most of all, I send you my gratitude. You've really helped me. I am in your debt.

Speak soon!
sln

[Crazy Mermaid]

Congrats on your award! On another note, I'm sure you already know this, but it's worth repeating: be very vigilant about your stress level. I'm particularly sensitive to this subject because of my personal experience. It literally drove me insane. Again, Congratulations on a job well done!

[Sandy Naiman]

Hi Crazy Mermaid,

Congratulations to you, too, for making the list:

http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2009/10/28/top-ten-bipolar-blogs-2009/

And for your warning about stress levels. Wow, I had no idea what a one-two punch stress pulls, out of the blue. I really thought I was going under. Luckily, I was able to see my psychiatrist on time. I've been "lightening my load," sleeping more and I've been reading your blog. Though I couldn't find your name on it (anywhere), it's mesmerizing. As are your other blogs.

http://crazymer1.wordpress.com/

We share many similarities, except your condition hit you hard and fast later in life. I've been living with mine almost all my life.

Do you ever crash and become depressed? I do not. Other than that we both have psychotic tendencies. I have lots to catch up on and will continue to read you. It was very kind of you to share and support me here.

Thank you. Your thoughtfulness means a great deal to me. I've just subscribed to you on my net-reader, so I'm going to follow you closely. All the best. Keep writing and sharing.

You have a strong and important voice.

Take care.

Speak soon, I hope! That's what struck me most about your writing. Your focus on hope! We share that, too!

xox
sln