Garett Asks…

Five months ago, I was diagnosed as having bipolar disorder. First I was on Depakote and then I told my doctor I was still having major problems with my sleep. I was always up and about knowing it was 3 o’clock in the morning. I told her about the lack of sleep, and she immediately took me off of the Depakote and switched me to Seroquel.

I was recently talking with a friend of mine, Mikal Belicove, who happens to be a marketing and positioning expert. I was describing someone I had met during a recent trip to Ljubljana, Slovenia to help promote the release of the Slovene edition of Bipolar Disorder for Dummies – a well-traveled, well-spoken, accomplished businessman who has bipolar disorder.

Yesterday, on Good Morning America, accomplished actress Glenn Close and her sister Jessie Close spoke about mental illness in their family (watch the clip). Except for George Stephanopoulos saying that Jessie “is” bipolar, I thought it was a good piece. The Close sisters did an excellent job of presenting bipolar, the stigma surrounding it, and the necessity of making a commitment to manage the disorder.

Please watch the video and share your insights.

Mrs. Tovornik, Cecie Kraynak, Tatjana Novak, Maja Valic, Darja Budja, Joe Kraynak, Sanja Svajger (Journalist) at Book Presentation in Ljubljana, Slovenia, October 12, 2009

Cecie and I participated in another book presentation for the Slovene edition of Bipolar Disorder for Dummies. Unlike the presentation on Saturday in Koper, this one was dedicated solely to the book and was much more effective in promoting it.

Sitting: Peter Smole and Roman Peklaj and Maja Valic; Standing: Joe Kraynak, Darja Budja, Cecie Kraynak, Emi Kladnik, Ana Sorc, and Katja Jus

Cecie and I were invited to visit Ljubljana (lyoo-blee-ah-nah), Slovenia for the release of the Slovene edition of Bipolar Disorder for Dummies. We accepted and have been in Slovenia since this past Thursday, 10/8/2009. We flew into Venice on Thursday to meet our gracious hosts, Darja Budja (“j” is pronounced “y”) and her husband Simon Perko. Darja translated the book into Slovene and is a devoted bipolar advocate. She has created her own bipolar blog (bipolarna.si) and is one of the organizers of an active bipolar support group in Ljubljana.