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I have had this exchange a thousand times,
“I’m really depressed.”
“Why, what happened?”
Have you been missing the plot?
Bipolar disorder is defined as the cycling of moods between a depression and a mania, or hypomania. It is not characterized by being cut off in traffic and then being depressed about it.
I do understand the confusion. For a normal person, emotions have causes. I say something hurtful to you, and you might feel hurt. Someone hits your car and runs, you might feel mad. You break up with your other, you might feel sad. I get that. They taught us the feeling faces in elementary school.
The problem is that for most people few emotions fall outside this cause and effect. It’s true that people may not always be able to pinpoint the cause, but generally one exists. The only feelings falling outside of this paradigm are things like bad hair days…more at Breaking Bipolar blog.
Natasha Tracy is an award-winning writer, speaker, advocate, and consultant from the Pacific Northwest. She has been living with bipolar disorder for 26 years and has written more than 2000 articles on the subject.
Find more of Natasha’s work in her acclaimed book: "Lost Marbles: Insights into My Life with Depression & Bipolar" on Amazon.
Connect with Natasha at the social media links below.
Shopping for someone with a mental illness can feel tricky—you want a gift that actually helps, not just more clutter. This guide walks you through 15 thoughtful, low-pressure mental health gifts that offer real comfort, reduce stress, and say, “I see you and I’m here,” during the holidays and all year.
I’m never going to call bipolar pain a “gift.” Most days, I just want it to stop. But emotional and even physical pain aren’t always random torture—they’re often trying to tell us something. This piece digs into what your pain might be saying, how to listen, and how that can make living with it just a little easier.
Does TMS cause headaches or migraines? Yes, sometimes. This first-person guide explains the pain, how to tell TMS headache from migraine, and the relief tactics—dose ramping, coil adjustments, and other techniques—that helped me keep going.
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HH,
I think you're missing the point. The point is that this is an illness, and I have about the same control of it as someone does who gets the flu for ten years. "Making yourself busy" is not a cure for anything. No one has been more busy than I so if that worked, I'd be done.
And no, thinking about it won't "kill you from the inside". The whole basis of therapy is exactly the opposite of that. People need to understand themselves and their disease if they have any hope of dealing with it.
– N
Hi Donda,
Not to worry, you can comment anywhere you like :)
Yes, the other site is busy. I have had a couple of people tell me they really don't like it. You might want to turn off Flash in your browser. It makes the internet much less annoying. (You can then just turn it back on when you need Flash.)
What I do is I have Firefox running with no Flash plugin installed. I use this for almost all my browsing, then I have another browser (IE, WFIW I hate) with Flash installed for sites I need Flash for.
Really, turning off Flash will make the whole internet seem better if you sensitive to that sort of thing.
Sorry if that was too tech-geeky for you :)
Good luck in your continued remission.
– N
This layout is fine. The other site, your new one, just seems cluttered. I have an auditory sensitivity and the more blogs I find to read I am realizing that I may have a visual one too LOL I hope I didn't offend you I was just explaining why I would rather comment here than there but if it helps you out in the business world I will comment over there. @ HH, I have been learning to let go and I think I have finally almost mastered the skill. I have not been severely depressed in over a year. Maybe it is just a fluke but I hope not :)
Hi Donda,
I just want to say that there is only one life.Live it fully.Make yourself busy in some sort of work and dont think of it anymore.The more you will think of it the more it will kill you from inside.
Hi Donda,
I'm not sure if you hate the layout here or there, but if you hate it there, I don't have control of it, but they do react pretty well to feedback. As for mine? Well. Sorry.
I'm glad the analogy works for you, I had to think for a while to come up with something that I thought would be generally relatable.
Hopefully it catches on because I really wish people would get it.
I read the whole spill over on your your other blog but call me crazy (everyone else does) I hate that layout but I love your scribblings so I will comment here. I have run into the same thing with all of my family and it helps in some small way to know that I am not the only one that just wakes up depressed or buzzing like a speed demon for no reason at all. It is hard to make people understand and the cold analogy is a good one. Thanks for putting it out there on your high traffic site!!!