The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow! (I hope so!)
Make a list of your top five depression symptoms: especially the ones that sneak up on you and make you think they are real.
Write out this list and put it in your wallet. When the depression starts take it out and read it. Then say to yourself, “If I’m going through something on this list, it has to be depression. This means I have to treat the depression first.”
Depression behavior rarely changes. When you learn your symptoms, you can differentiate them from the real you.
If you care about someone with depression, make a list of their top five depression symptoms. Memorize them. This helps you know what you’re up against when their behavior is confusing. You can say to yourself, “I remember this! He always talks like this when he’s depressed! We have to focus on treating the depression instead of talking endlessly about what is wrong.”
This prevents the Bipolar Conversation. I write about the Bipolar Conversation in all of my books!
Here are a few of my bipolar disorder depression symptoms:
– I Think: I will never find a partner for the rest of my life. ( I am only 47! )
– I Hear a voice: What is the point of working? (Or, what’s the point of getting up, living, etc.)
– I Believe: Things will never get better. (Oh, that is a strong one! A masterful depressive thought!)
– I Cry easily. (I call it the waterfall of tears. I also have the sob where I will be driving and suddenly I just have a heaving sob out of nowhere!)
– I eat everything I don’t need to be eating! (A constant problem. Eating junk has never, ever helped depression. It just makes you fat!)
My depression never changes. My management skills have just gotten so much better that I can overcome the depression more easily than I used to. I know my top five dcpression symtpoms and I try to catch them before they go too far. Bla! What a bother! This illness is a bother!
Julie
