Hard-won lessons from a bumpy road
In this post, we’ll pick up from the previous one in which I shared excerpts from Tracy Windsor’s essay, A Bumpy Road: Worth the...
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Merryl Hammond
- May 31, 2023
- 3 min
Bumpy road to recovery
This road may look scenic, even appealing. But for those of us living with bipolar disorder those twists and turns, those ups and downs...
Merryl Hammond
- Apr 21, 2023
- 4 min
Bipolar and creativity
Vincent van Gogh was diagnosed with bipolar disorder (manic-depression at the time) after his tragic death in 1890. He produced over...
Merryl Hammond
- Mar 30, 2023
- 3 min
It’s World Bipolar Day!
Vincent van Gogh’s work as displayed at a recent immersive exhibition in Montreal. March 30th each year is World Bipolar Day. The date...
Merryl Hammond
- Mar 10, 2023
- 4 min
Are you “navigating bipolar country”?
Are you personally “navigating bipolar country”? Or is someone you care for doing so? If so, you’ll really enjoy learning from the...
Merryl Hammond
- Feb 26, 2023
- 3 min
Navigating Bipolar Country: Book launch anniversary
This is a screen shot of me during the virtual book launch of the Navigating Bipolar Country anthology in 2022. The anthology was...
Merryl Hammond
- Feb 15, 2023
- 3 min
Beware of misdiagnoses
Amy Cox is one of the courageous contributors to my 2022 bipolar anthology: Navigating Bipolar Country – Personal and Professional...
Merryl Hammond
- Feb 3, 2023
- 3 min
Let’s Talk – and keep talking!
At a book launch for my 2018 memoir, Mad Like Me. Every year in Canada, in January, the Bell telecommunications corporation sponsors...
Merryl Hammond
- Jan 25, 2023
- 4 min
Mad Like Me: Book Club Q&A #2
This photo shows me back in 2018 posing with the two paintings my daughter, Tami Hammond-Collins, painted of me in mania and depression....
Merryl Hammond
- May 23, 2022
- 3 min
Mad Like Me: Book Club Q&A #1
Recently, some folks from a book club in the US contacted me after they’d read and discussed my 2018 memoir, Mad Like Me: Travels in...
Merryl Hammond
- Mar 30, 2022
- 1 min
Happy World Bipolar Day!
Every year on March 30th, it’s World Bipolar Day. A special day for us all to pause and reflect on this confounding disorder and how it...
Merryl Hammond
- Mar 4, 2022
- 3 min
“Navigating Bipolar Country”: my new bipolar anthology!
Just released! I’m so excited! After two-and-a-half years collaborating with an amazing group of 42 contributors, this powerful new...
Merryl Hammond
- Dec 7, 2021
- 4 min
Managing holiday stress
Ho, ho, ho! Happy Hanukkah! Et cetera, et cetera. The holidays are here again! But you obviously didn’t need me to tell you that, did...
Merryl Hammond
- Nov 19, 2021
- 2 min
Quick updates from Bipolar Country
Missing in action Regular readers of this blog will have noticed that I’ve been silent—MIA, actually—for many months recently. “Where has...
Merryl Hammond
- May 12, 2021
- 3 min
Has the pandemic affected your mental health?
My own experience during the pandemic I don’t know about you, but when the pandemic hit here in Canada in March 2020, a cold chill went...
Merryl Hammond
- Apr 23, 2021
- 4 min
Write it out!
Writing as therapy Writing about (hypo)mania In my memoir, Mad Like Me: Travels in Bipolar Country, I say: “Bipolar made me feel like a...
Merryl Hammond
- Dec 31, 2020
- 2 min
New Year’s resolution: get some sleep!
People like me who have a mental illness need to take control of our own lifestyles and self-care, in addition to taking our prescribed...
Merryl Hammond
- Dec 21, 2020
- 3 min
COVID-19 and Suicide: New Report
The holidays can be a particularly stressful time for many, and that's in "normal" years. This year, with the added strain from COVID-19...
Merryl Hammond
- Dec 9, 2020
- 2 min
COVID-19 and mental illness: any evidence of a link?
In a previous blog post, I argued that a mental illness should be considered to be an “underlying condition” that puts us at much higher...
Merryl Hammond
- Dec 2, 2020
- 2 min
Protecting our mental health in the COVID-19 era
Something that’s been on my mind a lot since the pandemic started is this: how will the stress of COVID-19, physical distancing and...
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