Current Bipolar News

Hi,

What’s new? Hope you are doing well.

To read this week’s news visit:
http://www.bipolarcentral.com/bipolarnews670/

Abnormal neural responses to emotional stimuli found in bipolar …
DO> Important study, don’t you agree?

Depressed mood cited most frequently in early bipolar disorder
DO> Some good information for you to know.

Shared genetic risk for bipolar disorder and BMI
DO> Bet you didn’t know this about your body and bipolar disorder.

Diet may not fully explain cardiometabolic problems in bipolar disorder
DO> Interesting study, don’t you think?

Increased energy/activity was key symptom in hospitalized bipolar …
DO> You’ll find these results surprising.

Multimorbidity in bipolar disorder and undertreatment of …
DO> This is some information about bipolar you’ll want to know.

Treating depression fails to reverse cognitive deficits in bipolar …
DO> You’ll find this an interesting study.

Asthma link to mood disorders strengthened
DO> Important information for you, especially if you have children.

Antidepressants may not be effective in treating bipolar disorder
DO> You may be astonished at these study results.

For these stories and more, please visit:
http://www.bipolarcentral.com/bipolarnews670/

Check out all my resources, programs and information for all aspects of bipolar disorder by visiting:
http://www.bipolarcentralcatalog.com

Your Friend,

Dave

Current Bipolar News

Hi,

What’s new? Hope you are doing well.

To read this week’s news visit:
http://www.bipolarcentral.com/bipolarnews669/

Bipolar disorder patients hold contradictory self-associations
DO> Interesting study, don’t you agree?

Predictors of substance abuse identified among teens with bipolar …
DO> Important information for you to know if you have a teenager.

Mental disorders link to heart disease risk
DO> Important study, don’t you think?

Smoking During Pregnancy Associated with Increased Risk of …
DO> Important information for you, especially if you want to have children.

Diabetes blamed for brain neurochemical abnormalities in bipolar …
DO> Don’t you think this is an important study?

Mood stabilizer plus antipsychotic can prevent bipolar relapse
DO> Good information for you to know.

Diet may not fully explain cardiometabolic problems in bipolar disorder
DO> This can be no worse for your loved one.

Head injuries increase risk for psychiatric disorders
DO> This can be dangerous for developing bipolar disorder.

Glenn Close Promotes Mental Health Legislation on Capitol Hill
DO> Don’t you think she’s a good supporter?

Shared genetic risk for bipolar disorder and BMI
DO> Don’t you agree that this is an interesting study?

For these stories and more, please visit:
http://www.bipolarcentral.com/bipolarnews669/

Check out all my resources, programs and information for all aspects of bipolar disorder by visiting:
http://www.bipolarcentralcatalog.com

Your Friend,

Dave

Bipolar: Tried Them All

Hi,

If you’re a bipolar supporter, I have some good news and some bad news (don’t you hate when people do that?). The good news is that your loved one can get better. The bad news is that the bipolar disorder they have, works to try to prevent you from helping them get better.

Take a look at this: Someone with the screen name “tried them all” wrote the following:

“For over six years, I have been lying to myself. I have been hurting myself emotionally and
physically. I seek help, but I am really lying that I want help at all. I’ve seen at least a dozen
professionals, none of whom have helped me. Although each and every one had a fault, I could
not overlook their deficiencies to see my own.

I am angry, but won’t admit to my anger. My anger is at myself…anger turned inward. I do
harmful things to ‘act out’ my anger, but I only hurt myself and those around me. I have done nothing to help myself and all my efforts to seek help thus far have been in vain. I have lost the love of many. I no longer have the people and things that have meant most to me.

I have found that instead of working with these professionals, I have worked against them. Instead of trying to make things better, I have only made them worse. I have only thought negatively, rather than positively. Instead of saying “I can,” I make excuses for why “I can’t.” I don’t try now because I fear failure. I have failed because I have been lying to myself.”
———————————————————————————————————————

You can see how this person is struggling with a battle against bipolar disorder. On the one hand, they want help. On the other hand, the bipolar works to stop the person from getting help. It is complicated indeed!

I find that in these situations, supporters have to make huge efforts to get their loved ones into the right treatment. It’s like bipolar disorder is your enemy, fighting against you all the time, and doesn’t want you to win, so in order to help your loved one, you have to step up your efforts every time the bipolar does (which seems to be all the time sometimes).

You can just feel the pain that this person in the post is going through. All the “on the one
hand” and then “on the other hand,” whether they say it or not. They are so confused! I bet your loved one goes through the same thing. The most important thing is not only that they get
treatment, but that they get the right treatment. Not only that, but they have to be cooperative with their treatment.

This person talked about the many professionals they sought for treatment. But then they said, “I have found that instead of working with these professionals, I have worked against them. Instead of trying to make things better, I have only made them worse.”

One of the ways you can help your loved one is to encourage them to work with the professionals trying to help them. Tell them that they need to be part of their own treatment, or it won’t work, and they can’t get better – that they have to be HONEST with their treatment team.

First of all, if they don’t go to their appointments, they will NEVER get better, because how can they get ANY help at all? Tell your loved one that as much as you love them, that you can’t help them all by yourself – that they need these professionals to help them, too.

Maybe you can even show your loved one this email and let them read the post from “tried them all,” so they can see how they might end up if they don’t cooperate with their own professionals.
Let them see some of the things that this person said.

I’m sure your loved one doesn’t want to hurt themselves emotionally and physically like this
person says they’ve done. I’m sure your loved one doesn’t want to do hurtful things in “anger turned inward” to hurt themselves or you.

Or to be like this person who goes on to say, “I have lost the love of many. I no longer have the people and things that have meant most to me.” Maybe you should tell your loved one that you
don’t want them to turn out like that. That you don’t want them to lose you, but that if they
continue not to seek help for their bipolar disorder, that they might lose you anyway.

I know that seems harsh, but many supporters have left their loved ones because, without
proper treatment, their loved ones got worse, not better. I know you want your loved one to get better. I know that you love them, or you wouldn’t be with them.

One of the hardest things, supporters tell me, is getting their loved one into treatment. This post shows what happens when a person with bipolar disorder doesn’t get the treatment they need, or the right treatment.

Well, I have to go!

Your Friend,

Dave

 

Current Bipolar News

Hi,

What’s new? Hope you are doing well.

To read this week’s news visit:
http://www.bipolarcentral.com/bipolarnews668/

Inflexible thinking in ADHD blamed on bipolar disorder
DO> Interesting study, don’t you agree?

Sunshine can make you happy
DO> Good tips for better moods.

Mental disorders may boost men’s heart disease risk
DO> Important study, don’t you think?

Genetic counseling could help bipolar patients adapt
DO> Good information for you to know.

Shared genetic risk for bipolar and alcohol use disorders
DO> Don’t you think this will help us in the future?

Scientists created camera test for the diagnosis of mental illnesses Information-Analytic Agency NEWS.am
DO> Isn’t this an exciting breakthrough?

Marker for inflammatory bowel disease linked to bipolar disorder
DO> Don’t you think this is an important study?

For these stories and more, please visit:
http://www.bipolarcentral.com/bipolarnews668/

Check out all my resources, programs and information for all aspects of bipolar disorder by visiting:
http://www.bipolarcentralcatalog.com

Your Friend,

Dave

Bipolar: A Strong Quality to Have

Hi,

I want you to look carefully at this word: CONTROL. Think about it. Just by its insinuation it’s a strong word. Webster’s dictionary defines control as, “power or authority to guide or to manage.” It also defines it as “direction, regulation, and coordination… restraint and reserve.”

These state important qualities of the word CONTROL. But today I want to look at the quality of
SELF-CONTROL as it relates to bipolar disorder. Self-control is one of the qualities needed in order to manage bipolar disorder successfully. Whether you are the one with the disorder, or
whether you are the supporter, self-control is an important quality to possess.

Just look at the definition per Webster’s dictionary. “Power or authority to guide or to manage.”
We all need that power and authority to guide and to manage ourselves and our lives, whether
we have a disorder like bipolar disorder or not. When it comes to bipolar disorder, though, you
need that power and authority to guide and to manage the disorder as well as your life in general.

If you are a supporter, you need that power and authority to guide and to manage your part as a
supporter to a loved one with the disorder. For example, you need the power and authority to guide and to manage the finances for your family. You also need the power and authority to guide and to manage the home environment, as you need to make it as stress-free as possible for
your loved one.

Speaking to the person who has bipolar disorder for a second here…You absolutely need self-control when it comes to dealing with your bipolar disorder. Medication and therapy can only go so far in the management of your disorder. It is up to you to manage what you can, and self-control has something to do with that.

You need to have control over your behavior, for one thing. And you need to have control over your choices and decisions, for another thing. Because these are the two areas where you get
into trouble when you go into a bipolar episode. The more self-control you have, the less trouble
the episode itself will get you into.

For example, in a manic episode, you will have a tendency to have grandiose thoughts and ideas.
You may want to act on these thoughts and ideas because of your bipolar disorder, and what
it makes you do during that episode. But the greater your sense of self-control, the greater the chance that you won’t act on them, and will make better choices and decisions, despite the bipolar disorder.

Now, to the supporter…You need to exercise self-control as well. For example, when your loved one is raging at you, which they may sometimes do in a manic episode. Your natural instinct will be to fight back, but if you exercise self-control, you won’t, and it will end the fight that much easier and may even de-escalate your loved one’s bipolar behavior.

Can you see how necessary self-control is for both the survivor and the supporter in the management of bipolar disorder? It can really make a difference. It’s not just the word that is strong…It’s the quality that is strong in the person. And it can make you strong.

Well, I have to go!

Your Friend,

 

David

Current Bipolar News

Hi,

What’s new? Hope you are doing well.

To read this week’s news visit:
http://www.bipolarcentral.com/bipolarnews667/

Early natural history of bipolar disorder mapped
DO> This will help you understand the connection.

Rescue dog helps Fargo woman manage challenges of bipolar …
DO> You’ll find this woman’s story intriguing.

Rejection sensitivity differentiates unipolar, bipolar depression
DO> Interesting study, don’t you agree?

Bipolar-specific disease management gives good returns
DO> Important study, don’t you think?

Reckoning day looms for Tampa man in abortion pill case
DO> What do you think the judge should do?

Bipolar-specific disease management gives good returns
DO> Encouraging information for you to know.

DSM-5 mania duration criterion questioned
DO> Where do you weigh in on this controversial issue?

For these stories and more, please visit:
http://www.bipolarcentral.com/bipolarnews667/

Check out all my resources, programs and information for all aspects of bipolar disorder by visiting:
http://www.bipolarcentralcatalog.com

Your Friend,

Bipolar: Just Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop

Hi,

I was at one of the bipolar support groups that I attend the other night. And I was talking to this woman whose husband has bipolar disorder. I asked her how he was doing. And she said, “Great.” But she didn’t say it very enthusiastically at all. So I asked her how come she wasn’t very excited about that. And she said, ‘I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop.” I asked her what she meant…

And she said, “Any time he does great for awhile, it seems like the next bipolar episode is right
around the corner, so it’s like I’m just waiting for the next shoe to drop. Like I know it’s coming any time now.” She was telling me how uncomfortable a position that places her into, how she can never relax when her husband is doing “great” – she never feels like she can enjoy his times of stability, because she’s afraid of an oncoming episode.

I told her that’s no way to live – that they should be able to enjoy his periods of normalcy and
stability much more. She said she would love to, except that she just can’t get the thought out of her mind that he’s bound to have that next episode any time now.

If your loved one is doing what they need to do to manage their bipolar disorder, they will go longer and longer between bipolar episodes. So it’s up to you, as their supporter, whether you
feel and think and act like this woman from the support group and wait around for the next bipolar shoe to drop…Or whether you enjoy your loved one’s periods of normalcy, understanding that, if they are managing their disorder the right way, they will have more
and more of them.

Bipolar episodes are hard enough to go through, you know that. And there is a period of time after each of them that you don’t trust your loved one, because you are afraid they will “slip” into bipolar behavior. This is normal. However, after awhile, you can begin to trust them again. After awhile of non-symptomatic behavior, your loved one will be acting stable. This is called a normal period.

And, like I said before, with proper management of their bipolar disorder, they (and you) will enjoy more and more normal periods, longer periods without bipolar episodes. You don’t have to sit around waiting for the other shoe to drop. You can enjoy these periods. Do what you would enjoy doing. Go places, do things, especially those things you were putting off doing because your loved one was episodic.

As long as your loved one stays on their medication and adheres to their treatment (goes to see their psychiatrist and therapist) and takes care of themselves and their bipolar, there is no reason you can’t do the things you want to do when and where you want to do them. If you cower or give in to fear, like this woman from the support group, you are letting the disorder manage
you instead of the other way around. And that’s not right.

You need to be the ones managing your loved one’s bipolar disorder. And part of that management is controlling the time between episodes. The normal periods. Like I said, be determined to enjoy them as much as you can. You shouldn’t be spending those normal periods
just waiting around for the next bipolar episode to hit.

Well, I have to go!

Your Friend,

Dave