I like to stay on top of things that are happening in the world of bipolar disorder, mental health, and psychiatry. This causes me to spend too much time tracking down obscure news stories and information. It is this need to stay “in the know” that caused me to start a website (still being built and tweaked) that is dedicated to current and breaking news from the world of bipolar disorder and mental health. I though it might be a good feature from time to time to share some of these “off-radar” news stories.

Music is one of the things that makes life enjoyable for me - it’s my art of choice. Unfortunately, when you combine music news with bipolar disorder, it’s not usually pretty. For example, I can’t listen to “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana without tearing up, the thought of Kurt Cobain’s short life and the pain he faced brings tears to my eyes. He committed suicide in 1994, at age 27. A brilliant musical figure, he was arguably the most influential musician of his time. Another brilliant musician, not as well known as Kurt Cobain, but probably even more influential is being honored with a music festival bearing his name this weekend: The 20th Anniversary Tribute to Jaco Pastorius is being held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA on Sunday December 2, 2007. Jaco Pastorius was an innovator on the electric bass guitar, and generally regarded as the best that’s ever played the instrument. Jaco’s Wiki bio is as disturbing as you’d expect. When he died at 35 he was penniless, homeless, and addicted to drugs and alcohol. His life ended as a result of a beating from a bar bouncer.  Yet another example of how the lifestyle of someone with bipolar disorder can kill in so many ways. If you’re interested in exploring some of Jaco’s work, I recommend Weather Report’s Heavy Weather, a 1977 jazz fusion classic that hit number 1 on the Billboard Jazz charts, and actually climbed to number 30 on the pop charts, an unheard-of feat.

There, but for the grace of God, go I: Thabani Muller was a brilliantly gifted student and athlete. He went to Dental college, then on to medical school to become a surgeon, and had plans to add an MBA to top it off. He eventually unraveled, as so many of us with bipolar do. But Thabani had much further to fall than most of us . I find it disturbing that people, even those with bipolar disorder, can’t recognize the depth of dementia and psychosis possible with this disorder. Even myself, a very high-functioning, hypomanic-leaning bipolar 2, have had episodes where I have been totally divorced from reality. Any decision I’d made, or any action I’d taken, could have led to tragedy. I don't mean to imply Thabani Muller is not responsible. The decisions he made before becoming psychotic could have prevented this tragedy, most obviously medication compliance. It’s a very sad case, and my heart goes out to all involved.