BipolarLab.com

What a week this has been. Running a project such as this has a myriad of little things that can easily go wrong - and believe me they often do go wrong! I am not sure whether I would have made it so far without the constant support really of my participants. Yes, some of them do have terrible “reputations” for being difficult bipolars, and the not so kind comments from many people before this got started were along the lines of “they can’t do it”, “they will run off with the devices” and so forth but almost 2 years down the line and having completed 2/3 of the recruitment, I can proudly scream that we proved them wrong

Yes, we have had our ups and downs. Yes, there were a few people who were less diligent than others. And Yes, there were people who at times made my life a bit more difficult than I would have liked, but there is no question in my mind that the majority of them appreciated the utility of this study and did their best to see this through.

We are currently evaluating pedometers as a simpler and cheaper alternative to actiwatches for measuring physical activity. There are hundreds of pedometers out there, the majority of which simply don’t work. Luckily, there are a handful of pedometers that seem to do the job, and after a few days of research again I can proudly scream that I found the best pedometer that is out there for this study. Not only it works but it also has a little brain with a 7 day memory so my participants do not have to worry about recording their activity on a daily basis. The bloody little things have been getting very good press, and there when you feel that a job has been well done you get an email from a participant that completely shutters your cosmotheory about the workings of pedometry.

Jon felt that the 7 day memory of that particular pedometer worked backwards. I KNEW otherwise and of course I initially felt and thought to myself he is probably confused with that particular technology, I should be polite and try to fix his pedometer related dysfunctional cognition (PRDC - we coined a scientific term). What a better way to do so than run a little behavioral experiment that would prove I was indeed right. I got in touch with my supplier who also very authoritatively confirmed my PRDC. We were both right. But somehow in me prevailed my need to ensure that everything was working right rather than proving myself right. I also know I am often wrong and quite prone to errors (yes like a buggy software with dysfunctional hardware), therefore I decided to proceed with our behavioral experiment. We would both reset our pedometers (I do parts of the study myself) and record day 1 and email each other our steps for that day. By the second day, we would know whose theory was right. Jon went ahead with this being firm in his own belief. We do day 1 and email each other. Day 2 comes and of course I end up emailing Jon giving him his credit.

My participant was right! I was “diseased”. Our study is now cured! On to the next week

OK, it has been about time that I start writing this blog. I have been trying to get it started for some time now. As the remote emonitoring phase of my PhD project is coming into place, and more people are coming on board, blogging is the way to go. It should help us to keep in touch and help new participants get to know more about the project. I love one to one communication with all my participants but if we want to make the emonitoring project accessible to everyone, then we need to come up with procedures and strategies to do so. And believe me this an ongoing concern of mine. There is nothing really that saddens me most than not to be able to give access to the emonitoring project to people who need it but for one reason or another do not meet our research criteria. You cannot believe how much I hate these criteria but at the same time they are there to protect our research questions and also protect our participants. I hope that all the participants that I have put on hold for too long or had to turn down understand. I do my best to explain but it is often difficult for people to understand the reasons why we have to be selective. But not to worry, one day we will get there. One day this will run on its own, funding and time permitted.

Stephen Fry had recently his 50th birthday. Let us all wish him Happy Birthday! He has done a great deal of good to the bipolar community by “coming out” and I guess the least I can do is to honour his bipolarity by naming our first blog after the title of his landmark documentary. I just wish I could ever have just 1/10 of his command of the english language to keep you informed and entertained but I am afraid you will have to tolerate my lousy Greek-English

One more great week of symptom monitoring is about to begin. My life, our life, with bipolar symptoms. What would we all be without them

Keep on checking the site. I will do my best to update the blog as frequently as I can. And don’t be shy, post your comments or get in touch to register your interest and come on board.