Actually, depression never says knocks. It’s not that polite. It actually just comes in without knocking. When I was first diagnosed with bipolar disorder I tried to draw pictures of what it felt like to have this illness. I drew a picture of a hotel- naturally called the Julie Hotel! There was a door to the hotel and outside I drew a huge monster with big teeth- it was much larger than the hotel itself. The caption was..
When bipolar comes knocking- don’t let it in!
Maybe that was a bit naïve. You don’t have to even open the door sometimes. It comes in anyway. Most of my books are about prevention- including recognizing triggers, keeping your relationships stable, knowing your first signs of mania, limiting the alcohol and partying, etc. etc. But I also write a lot about how you can keep going even when you’re depressed.
It’s true that no matter how diligent you may be, the illness just shows up anyway. It’s often hard to know what to do. The answer is…. You just keep going with your treatment plan and try to shut the door as much as possible. When I get depressed, I remind myself that I’ve been here before and I will be here again. What matters is how I manage it in the moment.
1. Keep working on whatever you need to do. You don’t have to feel good in order to work.
2. Keep moving forward when the depression makes you feel stuck to your chair.
3. Put your body and face into an expression of healthy instead of depression. ie, the slumping, crying, sagging, turned inward feeling of depression can at least be changed outwardly.
4. Remind yourself it’s an illness and it goes away. Bipolar is episodic. There are periods of stability- and they get longer and longer the more you work at treating this illness.
Bipolar! You can’t come in my hotel!
Julie
