Blogs
Bipolar disorder is episodic. This means that a person with bipolar disorder will experience episodes of depression and mania (or hypomania). And even when a person is relatively stable, thanks to successful bipolar treatment or just plain luck, it is likely they will still experience a depressive episode at some point in the future.
But how do you know if you’re heading into a depression?
Monday's blog focused on the role physiological and psychological sensitivity played for me in developing dissociative identity disorder. Today we tackle denial. The second of my four categories of causation, The Denial Factor, postulates that the chronic refusal to acknowledge trauma has a direct dissociative effect on the malleable identity of a child. I believe that for me and countless others, denial was a harbinger of dissociative amnesia and a potent force in the journey from trauma to DID.
To Do lists are often the only way I can remember all the various things I'm supposed to get done. Yet when ADHD fueled boredom settles in, managing and maintaining To Do lists is the very last thing on earth I want to do. Here's a tip I have found to keep To Do lists effective over time.
I’ve long been a fan of the Rudyard Kipling poem, “If.”
If you can keep your head when all about you
are losing theirs and blaming it on you…
I can relate to this verse. I’m sure all parents of mentally ill children can. Often the greatest challenge we face is not going stark raving mad ourselves.
We often focus so much on romantic relationships that we tend to overlook those other folks in our life—our friends. Unlike the family we are born into, we get to choose who we want to be friends with. And sometimes we need to take a closer look at the people we surround ourselves with to see if they are enriching our lives or bringing us down.
Amanda_HP
Guess what? Women apparently aren't the only ones going through menopause (Male Menopause: Men and Depression). Our guest on this week's HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show, psychologist and author, Dr. Jed Diamond says male menopause is something every middle-aged man goes through, it's just a matter of degree. For the men who have a rough time of it, Dr. Diamond has coined the term Irritable Male Syndrome to describe a set of difficult-to-deal-with symptoms associated with male menopause.
The days leading up to the first day of school can be more nerve-wracking for parents of mentally ill children than trying to decipher your health insurance coverage. So how did school go for me and my bipolar child? Find out in my video post!
Last week I talked about the double edged sword of ADHD intensity. It could bring you to great creative heights, but also be hard on the people below. Ofttimes, however, that intensity is unintentionally released like an elemental force upon our loved ones when we are emotionally upset.
Last July, Bob’s psychiatrist handed me prescriptions for lithium, Seroquel, Clonidine, and Focalin.
We had discussed this before. Using lithium to treat childhood bipolar disorder was his "last resort", something he waited to prescribe until nothing else worked for Bob.
Lithium? Had it come to that? What if even lithium didn’t work?
Did you know you that being kind to yourself reduces stress? Do you realize when you're not being kind to yourself? Do you know what self-care means? A lot of people experience anxiety as stress and pressure: to be perfect, appropriate, correct, on time, grown-up, professional, controlled. It's easy for stress and anxiety to weave their way into your life. But you can be kind to yourself more often and reduce stress and anxiety in the process.
Where do we go from here? Most of the family thinks just to let her hit bottom and then if she reaches out to help any we can. Some want to just keep paying her bills and just let her sit in the house with no responsibilities. Never been on medication and impossible to get to her when she refuses to talk to ANYONE.
Help.
On the day we agreed to videochat to make things less awkward IRL she woke up with a migraine so we rescheduled to the day after, I made sure to assure her that it was okay and to take her time. Later that day, in the late evening we had a nice chat but suddenly she stopped replying, even though nothing had happened. The day after I texted her good morning and said I hope she was feeling a little better. she wouldn't open my texts.
A couple days after I sent her a longer text saying that even though I had only known her for a short time I care a lot for her and would like to know how she are doing, telling her I'm there for her, assuring her I'm not going anywhere even though things might not be very easy. She wouldn't open it.
A week later I sent a text saying not to feel bad about not answering and that I will be there when she is able to answer again. It's been two weeks since this and she still hasn't opened my texts. She hasn't been active at all.
I don't know what else I can do. I assumed she might have fallen into a depression. I have tried to just not think about it anymore, and I haven't that much but when I do it sort of kills me inside...