Uncategorized « Straight Talk on Managing Bipolar Disorder

Take Charge of Bipolar Disorder

Take Charge of Bipolar Disorder is my foundational book. It’s the one I recommend for those who are new to bipolar disorder.

A description of the book is below. If you’re a family member or health care professional who wants to learn the basics of bipolar disorder and how the illness can be treated with a management plan, you will love this book! Take Charge was the first book to talk about having a trigger management plan for bipolar disorder. It also introduced the idea of avoiding the bipolar disorder conversation and the importance of having a team in place to help manage the illness.

Take Charge of Bipolar Disorder with Julie A. Fast: A 4-Step Management Plan for People with Bipolar Disorder, Family Members and Health Care Professionals [ Read More ]

Bipolar Disorder and Psychosis: Yes, we can have paranoid delusions!

Here is an example the BipolarHappens.com Newsletter

Today’s Topic: Bipolar Disorder and Paranoid Delusions

by Julie A. Fast

Paranoia is a type of psychosis called a delusion. A delusion is a false belief.

For example, paranoia can be the belief that you have done something wrong and that a person or an organization is upset with you. This is a scary experience as it feels so real.

Paranoia used to really cause me a lot of trouble. I’ve worked hard so that I can at least recognize paranoia before it makes me do something stupid.

I often get the feeling that my friends are ignoring me and that they have met friends they like a lot better than myself. It’s a terrible [ Read More ]

Ask Julie Fast: How do you remain organized and focused in your thinking?

A new way to focus my attention! I am trying to focus on just one sporting event when faced with a gazillion TVs in a sports bar. HEHE.

ANSWER: I don’t remain organized and focused in my thinking. It’s a daily and sometimes hourly struggle for me to focus. I have to get help in order to get my work done.

I’m extremely unfocused- it’s pathological and is a struggle very single day. My manager Vy is a life savor. She makes charts that I work hard to follow. I cannot write books without help.

I’m getting worse as I get older and there is no question that my head injury from 2012 doesn’t help. This is not meant to be depressing. It is simply my reality. When I’m stable, I just deal [ Read More ]

Tips to Get Out of a Severe Bipolar Depression

Remind yourself that depression is an illness. The symptoms will always be the same. It is not a personal problem. It is not a weakness. It is an illness. Here are the signs of bipolar depression that remind you that bipolar depression needs to be treated in the same way you would treat pneumonia.

Bipolar Depression Symptoms:

– Lack of joy in what used to bring joy. This does NOT mean you need to change your life. It means you need to end the depression so that you can again experience joy. Many people make the mistake of leaving relationships, quitting jobs and thinking a big change is the answer to ending depression. I suggest that managing depression is a better choice.

– A sense that [ Read More ]

What is Your SELF Inside the Bipolar Disorder?

I believe there is a SELF inside of ME that is separate from bipolar disorder. When something stressful happens in my life- a trigger- my bipolar disorder is the first thing to react.

I rarely get to respond to life from my SELF.

Life goes through my bipolar disorder filter first. If I’m unaware of my own bipolar disorder symptoms, such as my tendency to paranoia, self flagellation and the doomsday feeling that life is never going to work out, I will react to something without thinking.

This is damaging. I fight this desire to act from my first thought. I step back and see if it is bipolar talking or if my SELF is in control.

So far, my SELF always comes in second. My goal is to put the SELF first and [ Read More ]

Relationship Disappointment and How it Affects Bipolar Disorder

On the list of the worst triggers for bipolar disorder mood swings, relationship troubles are right at the top for me. I used to walk into new relationships blindly. I would think, oh well, if it doesn’t work out I will just deal with the depression.

What a dumb plan! I can’t do this as a person with bipolar disorder. The bipolar will always win. I played with this illness for a long time around romantic relationships. I’ll go out with this guy, just for fun. I will be fine.

No, I wasn’t fine. When it self destructed, I did as well.

I have a different policy now.

Nothing is worth a terrible depression.

Nothing. We all have to protect ourselves from bipolar disorder by watching who we let [ Read More ]