Bipolar Disorder

CHICAGO - U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., a Chicago Democrat who took a hushed medical leave two months ago, is being treated for bipolar disorder, the Mayo Clinic announced Monday. The Rochester, Minn., clinic specified his condition as Bipolar II, which is defined as periodic episodes of depression and hypomania, a less serious form of mania. "Congressman Jackson is responding well to the treatment and regaining his strength," the clinic said in a statement. Bipolar II is a treatable condition that affects parts of the brain controlling emotion, thought, and drive and is likely caused "by a complex set of genetic and environmental factors," the clinic said.

Jerry Chambers, charged with murder in the beating, suffocation and starvation of 3-year-old Porchia Bennett, said in court yesterday that he suffers from bipolar disorder, a mental illness his attorney could later use as part of the defense. "Obviously, that will have some impact on which way we're going to go," defense lawyer Charles P. Mirarchi 3d told reporters. "He maintains his innocence at this point. " At yesterday's brief scheduling hearing, Assistant District Attorney Richard Sax told the judge he needed two days in which to present evidence at a preliminary hearing for Chambers and his girlfriend, Candice Geiger, who is Porchia's aunt and took care of the child and her three older sisters for nearly a year.

Manic depression is touching my soul.   - Jimi Hendrix   It is a peculiarity of the modern American temperament that spiritual and mental health, no less than shoe styles or skirt lengths, are subject to fashions and fads. So it seems with bipolar mood disorder, which lately appears to pervade popular culture. Catherine Zeta-Jones, Demi Lovato, and Russell Brand have spoken out about their struggle with the illness. Michael Angelakos, lead singer of indie rockers Passion Pit, stunned the music press last summer when he came out as bipolar, while Sinead O'Connor canceled her tour last spring, citing the illness.

When fabric artist Carolyn Lee Vehslage began creating computer collages, she intended them to represent her frustrations with computers and as a study of technology's impact on all of us. But the more she worked on them, the more the former computer network engineer began to understand that they represented "more than a discussion of technology and how it complicates our lives. " "I finally realized they resonated so much with me because they reflected my bipolar disorder, which I've had all my life.

A 33-year-old woman who pleaded guilty to stealing $54,733 while serving as treasurer of a Radnor elementary school's parent-teacher organization has been sentenced in Delaware County Court to five consecutive weekends in prison and ordered to pay full restitution. Judge Frank T. Hazel's sentencing of Elaine D. Sauerteig of Malvern came more than six months after her arrest Aug. 2 on charges of pilfering money from Ithan Elementary School's events fund from August 1995 to June 1996.

The state education commissioner has overruled the decision to fire Haddon Township schools' athletic director, who was captured on camera putting dog feces on his ex-wife's car last May. Alan Carr's conduct was "grossly improper," but removing him from his tenured position was "an unduly harsh penalty," state Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf found in a decision dated May 15. To impress upon Carr "the seriousness of his errors in...

Before his fifth birthday, Jeri Turrin's happy, playful son turned frustrated, disruptive - full of mad energy. He'd race from one end of the house to the other, jumping off the banister because he thought he could fly. His mother feared his horrible rages. "He would punch me so hard I would throw up," the Columbus, N.J., woman said. A doctor thought that Bradley had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, but the Ritalin he prescribed made the boy hallucinate. At 6, Bradley drew his own gravestone and wrote, "I want to die. " Jeri Turrin learned that her son had a mental illness doctors once thought kids couldn't have: bipolar disorder.

Lansdale Police are looking for a disabled military veteran who has been missing since Nov. 30. Family members say Timothy Baker, 52, of West Main Street in Lansdale, suffers from depression and bipolar disorder. He is on medication, but it was found at his home. Baker is about 5-feet-11 inches and weighs 275 pounds. He is an African American with brown hair and eyes, and a scar on the back of his neck. He drives a black Chrysler 300 with the Pennsylvania license plate of HZL-1175, police said.

DEAR ABBY: I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder many years ago. I started a combined therapy about a year ago — individual and a dialectical behavioral therapy group. Everything has been going great, and I have learned a lot about myself. The problem is, I have become very attracted to my therapist and, as a result, I feel it is interfering with my treatment. Lately, my only interest in going to group or therapy is to see him and be in his presence. I also find myself canceling group if I know he won't be there.

"Everybody deserves a place of his own, where he's wanted. And that sure includes Michael," his foster mother says. "Some of his problems are different," she continues, "but the satisfaction of knowing he's being cared for and loved makes it worth the extra effort. " Michael, 13, was a premature baby and weighed only 3 pounds at birth. His social worker says neglect and abuse in his background could be a factor in his disabilities. He is not verbal, and has cerebral palsy, a nonprogressive muscle condition.

DEAR ABBY: I am friendly with a married couple. The husband, "Grant," is my best friend and we talk about everything. He married "Sharon" last summer. I have known for a while that Grant didn't want to get married. Sharon, however, was elated. Now they have been married for nine months, Grant tells me he can't continue on, that he is unhappy. I have begged him to level with Sharon. He keeps making excuses. When I talk with her, she tells me she has the feeling he doesn't want to be married anymore.

The state education commissioner has overruled the decision to fire Haddon Township schools' athletic director, who was captured on camera putting dog feces on his ex-wife's car last May. Alan Carr's conduct was "grossly improper," but removing him from his tenured position was "an unduly harsh penalty," state Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf found in a decision dated May 15. To impress upon Carr "the seriousness of his errors in...

Almost 40 years ago, Susan Rogers came to Philadelphia to kill herself. She never dreamed that she would go on to spend 29 years here, improving opportunities for the mentally ill and showing what recovery can be. She is now being recognized for her work by Mental Health America, which will give her its top honor, the Clifford W. Beers Award, at its annual meeting next month. Rogers, 66, is director of the National Mental Health Consumers' Self-Help Clearinghouse, which helps peer-run programs get started and thrive.

Beethoven's cello sonatas are not often done as a complete, chronological cycle: They run too long for a single concert, but not long enough to fill two concerts without adding some of the composer's non-sonata cello works, diluting the sense of progression in his musical thought. When performed in close to optimum, single-concert circumstances by cellist Efe Baltacigil and pianist Benjamin Hochman on Thursday at the American Philosophical Society, the sonatas came off as a motley collection - verbose in the early works, oblique in the later ones, and with a clear-cut masterpiece in the middle, the Cello Sonata No. 3 (Op. 69 )

Joakim Noah had 21 points and 10 rebounds, and the host Chicago Bulls beat the Brooklyn Nets, 96-85, on Saturday. The Bulls went on a 19-0 run that started in the second quarter and stretched into the third. Noah followed up the third triple-double of his career with another terrific performance that also included four blocks. He committed five turnovers, but even so it was an impressive follow-up to Thursday, when he had 23 points, 21 rebounds, and a career-high 11 blocks in a win over the 76ers.

CHICAGO - Former Illinois legislator Robin Kelly captured the Democratic nomination Tuesday in the race to replace disgraced ex-U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., after a truncated campaign season where she got a boost from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's super PAC. The nomination all but assures that she'll sail through the April 9 general election and head to Washington, because the district is overwhelmingly Democratic. The Republican nomination was also being chosen Tuesday night.

Every cloud has a silver lining, and the 85th Academy Awards have Silver Linings Playbook. The mood-swinging, Philly-centric romantic dramedy came away with eight key nominations as the Oscar contenders were announced Thursday morning in Beverly Hills. Among its coups: It's the first film since 1982 ( Reds ) to win recognition in all four acting categories: Bradley Cooper for best actor, Jennifer Lawrence best actress, Robert De Niro (his first Oscar nomination in 21 years)

Every cloud has a silver lining, and the 85th Academy Awards have Silver Linings Playbook.   The mood-swinging, Philly-centric romantic dramedy came away with eight key nominations as the Oscar contenders were announced Thursday morning in Beverly Hills. Among its coups: it's the first film since 1982 to win recognition in all four acting categories: Bradley Cooper for best actor, Jennifer Lawrence best actress, Robert De Niro (his first Oscar nomination in 21 years) for supporting actor and Jacki Weaver supporting actress (her second in three years)

Likely to be nominated for multiple Oscars on Thursday, Silver Linings Playbook offers an affectionate, true portrait of Philadelphia and the suburbs. It's arguably the best film ever made about our region. Silver Linings captures that affecting mix of grit and polish with tremendous warmth, the working-class roots and exceptional pride that are a hallmark of many neighborhoods where homes, no matter how cramped or nouveau grand, are tended like mansions. That specific sense of community extends throughout parts of the city and traverses both sides of the Delaware.

  During an emotional hearing that lasted nearly two hours, Stephen Headley was sentenced to 50 years in state prison today for the murder of a popular South Jersey softball star at a Southampton soccer complex. The family and friends of Nicole Ayres pleaded with Headley to explain why he stabbed the college student to death on Sept. 13, 2010. But the 30-year-old Southampton man said only that he was "terribly sorry. " Headley has a disability and had been prescribed drugs for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, according to his public defender, Cedric Edwards.