Survival Thoughts For The Continually Depressed

TRILOGY BOOK ONE includes three books from my numerous writings. As a writer and philosopher these many years, its been my pleasure to ponder the world in ways that most people dont have time to do. In my wanderings, I wonder if I am getting any closer to the Truth. How can any of us distinguish for sure? I suppose all we can know is that, as long as we are alive, we still have the opportunity to keep searching, while happily delving into this adventurous world of amazement, wonder and awe.

'I Had a Black Dog says with wit, insight, economy and complete understanding what other books take 300 pages to say. Brilliant and indispensable.' - Stephen Fry 'Finally, a book about depression that isn't a prescriptive self-help manual. Johnston's deftly expresses how lonely and isolating depression can be for sufferers. Poignant and humorous in equal measure.' Sunday Times There are many different breeds of Black Dog affecting millions of people from all walks of life. The Black Dog is an equal opportunity mongrel. It was Winston Churchill who popularized the phrase Black Dog to describe the bouts of depression he experienced for much of his life. Matthew Johnstone, a sufferer himself, has written and illustrated this moving and uplifting insight into what it is like to have a Black Dog as a companion and how he learned to tame it and bring it to heel.

Surviving Manic Depression is the most authoritative book on this disorder, which affects more than two million people in the U.S. alone. Based on the latest research, it provides detailed coverage of every aspect of manic depression-from understanding its causes and treatments to choosing doctors and managing relapses-with guidance drawn from the latest scientific information. Drs. Torrey and Knable provide thorough, up-to-date coverage of all aspects of the disease, including a detailed description of symptoms (with many direct descriptions from patients themselves), risk factors, onset and cause, medications (including drugs still in the testing stage), psychotherapy, and rehabilitation, as well as information about how the disease affects children and adolescents. Here too are discussions of special problems related to manic depression, including alcohol and drug abuse, violent behavior, medication noncompliance, suicide, sex, AIDS, and confidentiality. Surviving Manic Depression also includes special features such as a listing of selected websites, books, videotapes, and other resources.

Not just anyone sits down to write their own personal Bible. The famous one, popular with millions of Christians, was penned by 35-40 different authors, over a span of some 1100 years. As of 1995, it was still considered (Guinness) the world’s #1 best seller of all-time. In stark contrast, Michael’s 2-volume Principles of Philosophy was meditated, contemplated, drafted, and written - in deep anonymity and solitude - over a daily and nightly 30-month span. His two books come in at over 800,000 words (the same as ten 80,000-word works). With the King James Old and New Testament totaling just over 783,000 words, it is easy to see why Michael views himself as both prolific (plentiful) and loquacious (talkative) when it pertains to laying down thought. As the Bible is for millions on the planet, Michael feels his principles are also a template - an owner’s manual - a guidebook - for (in particular) how to: (1) view life on earth; (2) work on the detail of one’s philosophy and worldview; and (3) examine and conduct a balanced, meaningful existence on this planet. The Holy Bible consists of 80 books (39 in the Old Hebrew part, 14 in the Apocrypha, and 27 in the New Christian part). Michael’s Principles (Volumes One and Two) each cover 84 chapters of the basic areas of life as he views them, with 21 chapters outlined each, for: (1) the mental; (3) the social; and (2) the material; (4) the spiritual areas of our lives. A detailed numbering system is in place for quick reference to topics. Each volume happens to come in at 613 entries, making a total of 1226 separate entries in the two books. By dictionary definition, a “principle” is defined as a “fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of belief or behavior or for a chain of reasoning.” This is precisely why he chose “principles” in the title. His own personal philosophical principles are what he tries to practice daily. Michael even states they are likely the reason he is still with us in bodily form on the earth, and remains in (relative) possession of his right mind as well. Since leaving organized religion early on in life, these tenants, practiced in balance, have been what Michael has focused on for several decades. They work well for him. In the course of these pursuits, he says he has come to thousands of conclusions. And they all point to the balanced life. As he insists, for him, it is all about equivalent portions of mind (mental), body (material), relationships (social), and spirituality (God; the Universe). Basically, everything can be summed up within these four primary areas of life. Michael seems to never hesitate to conclude that he has found his own personal means of salvation in the midst of pursuing his balance of the Principles of Philosophy. - Tanya Walker (wife)

Let me tell you how much fun it is to be a book writer! One of my friends recently said to me, I dont even know anyone whos ever READ a book, let alone WRITE one! I was amused. Well you know its really not so hard to write a book. You just talk about what you feel, and organize your thoughts along the way. At some point, as you stay determined to make it happen, the book comes into the world. For me, now having compiled over 30 book-length manuscripts of various topics and subject matter, I have become more and more inclined to share the way I see the world with others along the way. You might call what I like to write about as having to do with personal philosophy, or individual world view. Everyone has a way they see their world; this book is part of how I see mine. It seems that all kinds of people have something to say about what life is and is not. I am like most people, so am no exception. I have come to enjoy giving such opinions and points of view with just about anyone who will listen. I wrote this book, MY WORLD: The First 50 Years, because I wanted to be sure and document the way life appeared to be to me at the half-century mark in my personal growth and evolution. I did it in a way that enables you to read right through it, or, if you prefer, you can take it slowly, over a one-year span of time, and think about the ideas and thoughts carefully. How you read the book is entirely up to you. Ten years earlier I had written a similar book (Earth Dwelling: An Owners Manual for Life) in order to share thoughts about the meaning and purpose of life. It is amazing the difference that ten years can make! I like to think that I am growing! Gee. Could that be? I sure hope so! People from the worlds of philosophy, religion and the popular culture are anxious to share the way they see the world with others. I have a passion to do that also, and so I wrote this book in order to summarize how things in life appeared to me. I could be way off - you decide for youself. At any rate, my world is MY way of seeing life...in YOUR world, you will see it your special way and that is part of the beauty of this life. Each person is free to see it differently, and that is our basic right to do so. I like that. I actually feel so strongly about what I am saying here that I created a web site (which is called HowIseetheworld.com) to talk about and share ideas with others. Take a look at it some time. Thoughts are powerful, and have a tendency to either make you great, or even destroy you before your time. So, think good thoughts! And enjoy the book as well!

In just about every book you pick up to read, information is set forth that has the raw potential to affect you, the reading inquirer, in a variety of ways. This particular book is perhaps especially like that, since it covers a wide range of topics, and spans a plethora of perception. And it will frequently swerve far from the mainstream of conventional thinking. As to the general thought presented, some of it contained herein will no doubt make you want to yawn. You will already personally know what I am suggesting about something, and maybe even considerably more on it than I do. You will wonder why I bothered to express an idea that was so obvious, so basic, so simple. Perhaps the very next thought will cause you to bristle; you wont appreciate or respect the point. You will not agree. You will see it differently. You will object to the very insinuation that I would have thought to write it down. At some point, you might start to wonder about me, the imperfect amateur writer-thinker-theorist-philosopher that I am. Still other thoughts will mildly pass in your book as either amusing or entertaining or at least worth as much time to you had you spent the same amount of time petting your cat. Every book has plenty of that, this one no doubt, included. Finally though and this finally is why I applied myself very diligently to get this quite lengthy work written there will be the occasion when you will feel refreshed with the breeze of an enlightening concept; it will smack you in a soft spot, as you experience the euphoria of having had your mind stimulated, and your spirits lifted. For these times, the book was written, and in those (few or many) instances, you will openly be openly thankful, just as I was grateful to the Universe for showing to me these things in the first place. Living a full life is, in many ways, a matter of simply passing on intelligent logic and inspiring hope, doing so in the form of core concepts, to those who come after we do. I sincerely hope we are able to do some of that for you here.

From my home in San Juan, a lovely sector of central Tibas, situated just north of San Jose, Costa Rica, while the candle flickers I commence the writing of these varied glimpses. Warning! What you are about to read are personal memoirs! They are much to do about self. They amount to a large group of random thoughts, sporadic observations. I always feel I am somehow supposed to write my thoughts down what a big ego I must have because (I like to think that) if you put them all together, they form a loose-knit way of seeing the world. They are a part of my worldview. Everyone has one of these whats your view of the world look like? I am going to be a world philosopher when I grow up, you see. That is what my intention is, since I have always been preoccupied with how to see things, how to process things. How odd is life anyway. Thats why my interest in philosophy to figure out the oddness of life. Normally, I think philosophy can be pretty dry and boring. But, for me, its terribly exciting. In this book, what you are about to delve into will resemble the form of an ongoing story. It will consist of a sequence of six weeks of shadows and lights (i.e. days and nights). After that time, wherever I am at with it, I will stop, and simply and abruptly start to write another book about something else I know not what. Here though, I will (I suspect) be sharing with you a series of ideas, dreams, fears, logical thoughts, illogical thoughts, wonderings, wanderings and general psychobabble. I say that because I intend to impart thoughts and ideas about whatever might be in my ongoing existence in being. This could be anything, I assure youas of course it could be for anyone. Exactly what will appear in the pages that represent the next six weeks of my life, I do not have any idea that, for me, is going to be much of the fun of writing it!

In truth, just about anyone of us can scribble out a book about personal answers to the many questions of life. Worldview 101, or, What is most basic and true to my own reality as a human upon the earth? is my own response to a number of different concerns and issues in life. You might think of this writing as a personal Platos handbook, a general set of responses to the many questions of life. As its writer, it is only a part of the representation of my most current worldview (I say current because how we see the world is always in a state of movement). Concerning the book, as you read it, do so with the approach that you are first taking into account my way of seeing things, thinking about it, and then re-shaping more of how you personally view things. See if you relate to we think this, or we came to know that. If you do, adopt the idea as your own. If not, move on. In picking and choosing your position on the issues presented here, you will probably come to know more of what you are all about more of what you know you know. And what will that do? It will give you a perspective in higher thought which is a good sort of perspective to possess. This, you can hopefully use to govern your own life more personally. It can be very difficult to acclimate to this world of ours. Perhaps the thoughts in this book will help change or reshape your overall acclimation to life for the better. Knowing more never really stops. If life is meant for anything, for some reason that we dont really know about, it seems meant for us to learn more about being. In the end, it is this being part of us that relays a story. It also tells to others in our world who and what we are or were. Our lives are personal narratives, and play out as such for each of us. Life speaks to our innermost parts; what is it saying to you? We can hear the messages if we listen carefully.