title: Van Gogh and lithium. Creativity and bipolar disorder: perspective of a lawyer/parliamentarian.
abstract: Neil Cole has been the State Member for Melbourne since 1988 and was a Melbourne City Councillor for 3 years. He was the first Member of Parliament in Australia to confront the stigma of mental illness by publicly acknowledging his manic depression. Prior to entering parliament he was a Community Lawyer at Flemington Community Legal Service for 7 years. Neil was National Convenor of the Nuclear Free Zone Secretariat (1986-88), Chairperson Joint Parliamentary Economic and Budget Review Committee (1991-92) and Shadow Attorney General from 1992 to 1995. He is Deputy Chair of the Joint Parliamentary Law Reform Committee of the Victorian Parliament. Neil has written three plays with 'Alive at Williamstown Pier' being his first. He is currently employed as a consultant to the Mental Health Research Institute at Royal Park Melbourne.
authors.affiliation: NCole@papyrus.mhri.edu.au
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cole
mesh_terms: D000339:Affect / Q000187:drug effects; D018692:Antimanic Agents / Q000266:history / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000266:history; D003405:Creativity; D004739:England; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D016651:Lithium Carbonate / Q000266:history / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011361:Professional Competence
chemical_list: D018692:Antimanic Agents; D016651:Lithium Carbonate