I’m here in my office using all the ideas I can think of from my books! I have an article due- it’s going well- but getting the work done is literally physically painful! My brain feels like it’s going to explode and my body is very uncomfortable- it’s a mild form of dysphoric mania where my mood is mildly down but my energy is agitated. I’m definitely having trouble concentrating. Dysphoric mania is the opposite of euphoric mania (where things feels good!) – psychosis is often a part of dysphoric mania, though I’m not feeling any psychotic symptoms. When I start seeing things- then I’ll worry about psychosis. This all has to make me laugh a bit. I’m so used to these mood swings- and so used to writing about bipolar disorder that I am no longer even scared of the odd symptoms-
How I will get my work done:
Set an extremely specific goal for myself: Regarding my article- there are many, many steps to the process- but everything starts with one step- so I decide on one thing and focus on it until it’s done. Such as getting all of my quotes in the right sections of the article. When I get off track, I say- Julie, do the quotes only- then you can move on to something else. This definitely lessens the worry.
I know where a lot of this is coming from- I had a reaction to Zoloft- this led to a two week suicidal downswing, then three and a half days of mania- one day of euthymia ( a stable mood!), then a few days of going in and out of depression and now the dysphoric mania.
This is the same bipolar I’ve always had, but now I have a plan in place to manage it. My tips in Get it Done When You’re Depressed help with mild dysphoric mania.
Ok, time to finish my one step in the article.
Julie
PS: It defintely helps to imagine a calm place.
Oh, I just love your calm place – thanks for sharing, and Happy Fourth of July!