Hi,
I hope you’re having a good day.
The other day I saw some birds flying south for the winter. No, it’s not a myth – they really do fly south for the winter!
And, come to think of it, they weren’t even really flying – they were more like gliding.
There were ten of them, all in a vee formation, flying all together, like one. It was really a beautiful sight to see.
But there was this one bird behind all the rest who wasn’t in the vee formation – who was kind of doing his own thing. And that’s what made me think of bipolar disorder.
In my courses/systems, I teach about something called the Bipolar Stability Equation, and all the parts to it:
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So these birds kind of reminded me of the Bipolar Stability Equation – like all the ten birds gliding together in unison is like all the different parts of the equation all working together…
And that means stability for someone with bipolar disorder.
But the one bird not together with the other ones could be one of the parts of the equation that is out of hack and can throw off a person’s stability.
Here’s what I’m talking about:
Ten birds, right? All flying together? And that would be stability.
So let’s list 10 things that would lead to stability (all working together) for a person with bipolar disorder:
1. Medication
2. Therapy
3. Strong support system
4. Healthy diet
5. Exercise
6. Short-term goals
7. Long-term goals
8. Productivity
9. Low stress
Now, let’s look at the stray bird. The independent bird. The one who thinks he can do things his own way.
And, for simplicity’s sake, let’s call that bird, say, sleep, because this is one of the components of stability that people don’t think is as important as the others.
So the person with bipolar disorder stops paying attention to their sleep habits.
Instead of following a good sleep regimen of 8-9 uninterrupted hours of sleep every night, they start staying up later and getting less sleep.
Then only 4 hours of sleep a night…
And the next thing you know…
They’re in a full-blown manic episode.
It doesn’t matter that the other 9 elements of the equation are still intact.
Just this one element being out of whack is enough to upset the whole apple cart and put the person into an episode.
That’s why I push the Bipolar Stability Equation so strongly –
I want you/your loved one to be stable.
But the only way to get stable and maintain that stability is to keep all the elements of it intact.
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Post responses below
that is exactly how i feel, i cant believe i am sitting here going that very direction with the sleep thing, i’ve been up all night and i know i have thrown my whole thinking process back into high gear, fast and spinning
This article is so spot on! Using birds to explain how Bipolar is effected is so elementary but so well presented so the patient and those in her/his inner circle can benefit.
My close friend is a perfect example of that poor little straggler at the back of the group.
She is constantly sleep deprived and therefore her conflicts with family and friends is growing worse.
Her meds have not been reevaluated in 20 years! Her Psychiatrist seems very reluctant to do so regardless of the many signals that the current plan is not working.
Thanks for this article!
Hi Dave,
This was a GREAT news letter. It really forwards the nuts and bolts of staying stable and what one has to do to get their and stay their.
Thank you for the list.
My sleep pattern has been all over the place these last 4 months. I’ve been given a new sleep aid but it doesn’t keep me asleep, so I’m up 3-4 times a night. It’s not good. It does affect everything. LIke Lindamae, it throws the thinking process back. With me, I’m not sure if it’s mania or depression – this sleep deprivation. What do I do? I’m taking my meds and all that goes with that, including therapy, yet I’m up and it’s making my symptoms come back. Some of them. I wonder if you have a newsletter that covers that, how to deduce if you are running manic or depressed. I have a list to compare by but many of the symptoms overlap as with add as well, so I’m a bit confused. Well, now I’m rambling. Sorry.
“So let’s list 10 things that would lead to stability (all
working together) for a person with bipolar disorder:
1. Medication
2. Therapy
3. Strong support system
4. Healthy diet
5. Exercise
6. Short-term goals
7. Long-term goals
8. Productivity
9. Low stress”
This is an excellent list. I’m going to print it off and give it to my new p.doc. I know exactly where I’m falling short with this simplified list. So, thank you Dave for your help.
Sincerely,
Joan
I agree with ALL ten things on your list, but I can follow all of them, and STILL go into either a mini-episode, or a full-blown mania. The “monster” WILL get you, despite all the right direction you try to take. It’s happened to me TWICE, and then I’m hospitalized.
I guess I agree with Joan about the sleep-pattern thing. I’ll start to feel REAL good, and plot and plan things to do into the wee hours of the night, and then I’m “hooked” on staying up later and later. Then, it’s DAYS that I don’t get sleep at ALL.
Right now, I’m TRYING to get a “normal” wake/sleep pattern. If I go to bed late – I’ll sleep late in the morning. Unless I have a DR appt or a mystery shop early in the morning, then I’ll get maybe 4 hours of sleep, or pull an all-nighter, because I DON’T hear the alarms that I’ve set. My therapist says I’m HIGHLY sedated with my antipsychotic meds, and that’s the reason I sleep through my alarms.
But – not getting enough sleep is my first Maginot line. There ARE more days during the week that I get enough sleep that it doesn’t affect my bipolar at all. In fact, I get MORE done with less sleep – go figure…
Your list is GREAT; I just wish I could follow ALL of it!!
BIG HUGS to all bipolar survivors and those who love us. May God bless you real good. I pray for my country.
I think that such a good explaination!! – thank you for the list of 9 components, I have Bipolar and these reminders with the right amount of sleep hours are very helpful – Thank you for the email
Kind regards
Adiaha
Hi Dave
Thanks for your daily e-mails. It’s really good advice. Number 10, is that really necessary? Well I guess so. Ok I just want to tell you that I told my wife about reading what you are saying about bipolar and that you’re giving some good advice not just about bipolar but also about other things so I used the example of exercise for instance. Guess what she said to me? Well she said it’s good to read about it but why not doing it. She’s got a good point.
Hope you have a good day.
Bi Polar, from a UK Doctor of Psychology;-
In my experience Bi polar is inaccurately called a Decease, IF Mechanics were told they had a Decease because they had dirty hands every day, our cars may work in different ways at OUR cost.
The Human Brain operates in many different levels, yet collectively to a majority what WE see as ‘normal’ is usually ‘general’ anything unusual is perceived ‘Strange.’
My personal example follows a Lady of 56 yrs, her life began in Ireland, and her acceptable upbringing is sometimes made a comedians joke, while her countrymen find US the Joke. BUT when it comes to repeated or unexpected changes in a person’s behaviour each or alternate days, THEN we do have something very different.
This Lady was the wife of a Marine who intermittently spent months away from home, his wife was left alone to cope with two children, in fact she admitted ‘Wishing’ HE would go away more often as his involvement in the family was, to her mind, disruptive, however, her eldest daughter had different points of view.
She said, ‘Mum, some days you are an Angel, then next a Devil, YOUR personality is so unpredictable. She made no comment, having automatically and unconsciously, coped with her own changing behaviour which ‘WAS’ to her, Normal. How could SHE be wrong, SHE had brought up her family alone, and they appeared Normal, yet she suffered an inability to believe in herself.
Bi Polar is usually a female heredited action, probably her Mother also suffered, could this 56yr old have learnt the coping/suffering debility? Were her brothers driven wild?
When I first became involved I to was often mystified, yet clearly saw a variable life style, today she was like the rest of us, she worked and played without question, next she changed, the DEVIL came out, NO communication, only a Shell like person
.
Her personality showed repeated, revolving patterns. She Smoked 60+ cigarettes a week, she would knowingly consumed alcohol to excess, and Betted without regard for winning more than an occasional ‘Almost’. In Counselling I asked WHY? BUT was that day the Devil, OR the Angel speaking?
I had to conclude variable answers and a Psychological investigation of my own.
With her help and cooperation I asked her to attend her own Doctor for a blood test, we were looking for a Selenium deficiency. This substance is used by the Brain along with the Synaptic Process of transferring information from one cell to another, together with Sodium and Potassium the brain determines factors of day to day life, take away any of these and the brain ‘SEES’ things with a different perspective. However, there is NO inbuilt monitor comparing the brain with any miscalculation.
While in our observable state as ‘The Devil’, she DOES NOT see or notice any changes, they remain the same on every day, so WHY do WE cause HER hassle? Now as we approach this, we are also comparing her with a different upbringing, country or outlook on life, and that’s tough for US to delineate.
As an agreed trial, she nominated to take the natural ingredients of Selenium available in a Herbal format called ‘The Devils Claw’ [or similar name in other countries], they cost about $4, or £2 in UK money for about 50 pills, they are small, easily swallowed once a day with a morning beverage, and noticeably after only ONE week WE could see a HUGE change in her personality and wellbeing, she was an Angel ALL the time, more relaxed, self confident and pleasant, quietly aware and self confident.
Then after two months it changed. A SHE could NOT see or recognize any changes in her thoughts or actions, so she stopped taking the ‘Pointless Pills’. Of course from our point of view the’ Old her’ came right back at unexpected times.
This is NOT a failure; it established that taking a small dose of Selenium can have a dramatic affect on Bi Polar activities enabling a Positive result. I cannot claim to change everyone’s personalities, or make them better people, but it does indicate many Bi Polar affected persons may have a Selenium deficiency.
Had her Doctor made significant inroads, then HIS patient would receive professional Selenium Medication, which could beneficially change them for ever. And maybe her Smoking addition and Alcohol abuse removed, which were really just an ‘Escape’ Mechanism, boosted by a ‘Flutter on the Horse’s.
HER health would certainly benefit, but her Doctor was a young recruit, and knew little of Selenium, he left her unassisted. She would NOT try another medical source for clear reasons; IF the Dr found nothing then SHE must be OK, and its US who are bent!!
[Note, in excess Selenium can be dangerous, do NOT exceed the Herbal Format]
Dr, Rodger Garrick-Steele, UK. robinsonresearch@hotmail.com
Nice analogy!
Rodger
That is very interesting. It reminds me that here is (I think) a clash of cultures in the diagnosis of some aspects of mental illness in the UK because the National Health Service employs many psychiatrists from cultural backgrounds very different from our own. For example, while being brought to tears by something that is sad is an unusual response for a British male, it is not in India. But it can get really serious … a lady I know was seen by a psychiatrist who was a) male, b) from a fundamentalist Muslim country abroad and c) didn’t speak English very well! She had precious little chance of making her self understood! Indeed, the language thing is a problem in more cases that some would like to admit because it is not just a case of having a basic grasp of the language but in understanding the nuances of it AND being able to read between the lines from the combination of the nuances and other behaviour. Indeed, after my first two psychiatrists some 15 or so years ago, my family doctor recommended that I should not see their replacement because his ability to speak and understand the language was too poor! Since I have got back “into the system” I have not come across anything quite as bad as that but I have hit the cultural divide issue and am not very glad to have a pDoc with whom I can relate!
I meant to say “and I am NOW very glad to have a pDoc with whom I can relate…”
Yes, I have bipolar effective disorder. I am one of the lucky ones. I have had only 2 episodes in my life. I am on medication. I do not get a full nights sleep, and it bothers me. I seem to be thirsty so I get up a few times to drink water and use the bathroom. It is a habit I try hard to break. It has been going on for at least 3 years. What can I do?
welcome back Graham. From the heart.
Hi Brian Thanks for the little talk about the birds, It is so true, I am not bipolar but Watching a loved one go threw this is tuff, I see how important all these are to someone even myself. why is it so hard for The medical community to treat this disorder? My son is going to a hospital for treatment today. I hope They Can help him.