Many misconceptions shroud bipolar disorder, and while most of us understand that people with bipolar disorder suffer from depression and mania, we also need to realize that nothing, including bipolar disorder, is as clear-cut as they seem. People suffering from this disorder battle against many things outside these two known states.
Here are a few things we need to understand about people who have bipolar disorder: #1 We’re not constantly experiencing symptoms Individuals with bipolar disorder experience periods of extreme changes in mood and energy levels, but not around the clock. First, these shifts are called “episodes,”—and there are a few different types:
The types of episodes you go through depending on whether you have bipolar I or II (the two main types, although there are other conditions related to bipolar disorder). And how a person feels or acts during their bipolar episodes (and their length) can vary greatly and be entirely subjective. (Mood episodes generally last at least a week.) But bipolar episodes, regardless of what types affect you, are interspersed with periods without any symptoms—which is essential to remember. #2 People diagnosed with bipolar disorder have different experiences How bipolar episodes cycle and present for an individual depends on all kinds of things such as the person’s age, illness severity, which medications they are being treated with now, which medications they were treated with previously, whether they are taking their medications—all sorts of factors. So, as you can imagine, bipolar disorder can be very complex to treat and manage. Successful treatment is keeping open and regular communication between a patient and their doctor. #3 You can’t just snap out of an episode Medication is needed to treat symptoms if someone is already in full mania/hypomania or depression. One cannot pull themself out of a mood episode. Sometimes people will be aware that they are in or near an episode. Still, not all the time, depending on the person’s level of awareness and familiarity with their symptoms as well as the severity, this may affect whether or not they have the attention to take their medication. Some medications for bipolar disorder can treat mania, hypomania, and depression, while other drugs only treat certain episode types or combinations. In addition, some medications can prevent symptoms from becoming a full episode if taken in time. This is where psychotherapy plays an essential role, as it helps teach a person with bipolar disorder how to spot and manage those early symptoms. #4 It’s a lifelong diagnosis that needs to be constantly managed Bipolar is a lifelong diagnosis, and ideally, very soon after those first mood-elevated episodes, that person gets word from the appropriate experts and clinicians that they are at risk for the rest of their lives of having another episode. So, a person with bipolar will very likely be on medication and working with a therapist throughout their life. But unfortunately, the symptoms don't magically disappear because I go to therapy and I have medication, and I've taken the time and effort to develop coping mechanisms. A mental health disorder is like a cold, but the cold is in your head. Sometimes I need to sleep a little more. Sometimes my appetite isn't there. And I need my medication to help the process along. #5 Mania is not fun Some people would say, “Thank God you aren’t depressed all the time. At least you have energized happy moments. That should make up for the days of depression”. While having a lot of energy is great, it can be hazardous when you have no control over your actions at that “high” moment. Imagine being filled up with restless energy, losing touch with reality, and you are irritated you are angry, and you can’t get your body to shut down and have rest. You are awake when the world is asleep and drained, but the energy won’t let you go to sleep. You make decisions that on a regular ground you won’t do, but at that point, your mind rationalizes and justifies that decision. These periods of overspending, irrational thoughts and actions, and overconfidence tremendously impact their family relationships, social life, and financial stability. So no, mania isn’t fun. #6 People living with bipolar disorder can and do thrive and flourish People are not aware that there are lots of people who have the condition, including leaders of major corporations and musicians. We’re often viewed as defective, yet the evidence is contrary. Just because I'm managing and have a life where I can be a full-time employee and take care of my family doesn't mean I don't have bipolar disorder anymore. People with bipolar disorder aren’t necessarily suffering. Many famous, talented, productive people have dealt—I hate the word suffer—with bipolar disorder.
0 Comments
In 2014, I was profoundly depressed and distressed. My sister invited me to join her for an exploration of Tibet. It was a complicated experience. Chinese occupation of Tibet has heavily darkened the state of mind of every Tibetan. There was no enlightenment in sight. But I met the pause somewhere over a mountain ridge gazing at the prayer flags over the Himalayas.
Himalayans believe that when the wind blows the flags, it spreads the blessings, goodwill, and compassion embodied in the images and writings across the land. Eventually, the prints fade, the prayers become part of the universe, and the prayer flags are renewed. I returned with renewed energy. Yet, it would be short-lived, as I was still undiagnosed. In 2017, I started seeing a CBT therapist to navigate my anxieties and learn some tools. I began to meditate. Mental processes were under greater voluntary control. One year later, I had a massive manic psychosis which finally led to my diagnosis. Since then, I’ve been exploring various tools to help me maintain my stability. While my psychiatrist keeps an eye on my lithium levels and monitors my symptoms, I’m blessed to have found a therapist who practices core processes psychotherapy. Core process psychotherapy is a mindfulness-based approach to therapy and emphasizes a deep, ongoing awareness of one's body and mental processes for self-exploration and healing. Therapy is often viewed as a joint undertaking in which the therapist accompanies the individual on a journey into the deepest levels of their experiences. Through this contemplative self-study, individuals may discover the historical roots of their problems and achieve a clearer sense of who they are. As they process this information in the present, they will hopefully begin to let go of old habits and approach life with greater creativity and flexibility. It draws heavily on Buddhist principles and practices, such as a focus on mindfulness, compassion, and unconditional acceptance, and is guided by the Buddhist view of human suffering and healing. Throughout this journey, I’ve been integrating some contemplative practices shyly, from loving-kindness to counting my blessings, learning to meditate, and stretching and bending in yin postures. Recently, I’ve wanted to deepen my understanding of contemplation and its roots. Mindfulness is a particular kind of present-moment, non-judgmental attention that we can train through practice. Mindfulness has its roots in Buddhist meditation and can be considered both quality of consciousness and a method for stabilizing and refining attention to observe the mind and behavior directly. Some of these practices that I’ve recently explored include
In regularly practicing these, I’ve found that some have helped in enhancing my capacity for health, particularly in:
It’s been helpful, particularly in the aspect of emotional regulation. I am learning to be more aware, to identify and talk about my emotions, heal from past emotions and become more resilient in the face of extreme ones, improve my emotional relationship with myself and reduce reactivity. For many years, I rationalized and relied on psychological theory, science, and facts, creating unnecessary suffering. I was drawn to the possibility of enlightenment and disturbed by the idea of mental illness. I was stuck in a cycle of attraction and aversion in my mind: I had to be brilliant or mad, sane or crazy, wise or confused. Trapped by dichotomous thinking, I could not accept treatment and progress toward a life of stability. Buddhist psychology is one of the tools that inspired me to discover the middle way. I can have bipolar disorder and still be fundamentally sane. Though recovery requires formidable challenges, acceptance, and healing, I am on a path toward approval. I can uncover spiritual insights and pursue recovery, and there is space for it all. My middle way is a total embrace of my humanity, with the promise of joy and sorrow, grounded in the sincere desire to love without condition. Today I lead a life of general stability and happiness. There are good days and bad, but every single one is precious. Although, of course, sometimes I wish I didn’t have bipolar disorder yet, I could never separate my illness from the rest of my life. There is a depth to my life and a call to serve that I did not know before. Bipolar disorder is my path. My constant invitation is to return to the center and my heart. We all have our difficulties, our particular flavor of suffering that calls us to awaken. Bipolar disorder just happens to be mine. I have encountered this quote several times in the past six months.
“Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and freedom.” —no clear guidance on attribution. That space. How many times have we reacted and regretted it immediately? We made someone feel bad, yelled, pressed send, and wounded with words. If we breathe or close our eyes or count to ten after the stimulus and before the response, how might our day or year, or life change? How might our friends and family, and colleagues see us? How might that moment make all the difference? That space is a little thing. A little something we can do every single day. It will allow us to be in the moment, recalibrate, decide and accept. I spent the first two weeks of June in Bilbao, Spain, where I again encountered that quote. I attended the Wellbeing summit for social change and its extended working group sessions with the Wellbeing, Innovation, and Social Change in Education (WISE) Network. I joined this coalition of richly diverse, leading higher education institutions and organizations to commit to catalyzing a culture of inner well-being within the social change education field. The Summit was the first global event bringing together social change, governmental, arts, and business leaders working at the intersection of social change and inner wellbeing. During the sessions, we discussed the aspects of a flourishing life that arises from the integration of well-being, contemplation, and social innovation and that occur via engagement within ourselves, in our relationships, and with the world. When successful, it has the power to change individuals, communities, and societies positively. Globally, many encouraging steps have been taken for greater acceptance and prioritization of mental health and inner wellbeing for those working on some of the world’s most pressing issues. Among the multitude of topics that we discussed, we dived into critical concepts stemming from positive psychology practices. Three key ideas remain with me: #1 Flourishing Every human has the capacity and the undeniable right to flourish. How do we define that? According to Corey Keyes, mental health does not imply an absence of mental illness. Instead, mental health is a "separate dimension of positive feelings and functioning." Individuals described as flourishing have high emotional, psychological, and social well-being levels. Flourishing people are happy and satisfied; they tend to see their lives as having a purpose; they feel some degree of mastery and accept all parts of themselves; they have a sense of personal growth in the sense that they are constantly growing, evolving, and changing; finally, they have a sense of autonomy and an internal locus of control, they chose their fate in life instead of being victims of fate. Its opposite is a state of languishing, described as living a life that feels hollow and empty. #2 Contemplation Contemplation is the practice of being fully present—in heart, mind, and body—to what is in a way that allows you to respond and work toward what could be creative. The contemplative mind is about receiving and being present at the moment, to the now, without judgment, analysis, or critique. On the other hand, contemplative “knowing” is a much more holistic, heart-centered knowing, where the mind, heart, soul, and senses are open and receptive to the moment just as it is. Contemplation is about embracing the pause between stimulus and response. Contemplative practice generally refers to a particular form of observation in which there is total devotion to revealing, clarifying, and manifesting the nature of reality. Most broadly speaking, contemplative practices are secular and cultivate a critical, first-person focus, sometimes with direct experience as the object, while concentrating on complex ideas or situations. Find tools related to flourishing and contemplation here: https://flourishingu.org/. #3 Navigating change and uncertainty “It is time to explore the creative potential of interrupted and conflicted lives, where energies are not narrowly focused or permanently pointed toward a single ambition. These are not lives without commitments, but lives in which commitments are continually refocused and redefined.” – Mary Catherine Bateson. It is possible to re-imagine our relationship with ambiguity and recognize the creative potential that exists in the messy middle between life’s inevitable “What Now? Moments” and what comes next. There are tools we can learn to flourish in an era of unrelenting and exponential change. One of them is active resilience: the capacity of individuals to navigate their way to the psychological, social, cultural, and physical resources that sustain their wellbeing and their ability individually and collectively to negotiate for these resources to be provided in culturally meaningful ways.” In this definition, the emphasis is on the individual agency that we have to pursue these resources. As a result, we have something to focus on when we don’t know what to do. Find tools in Joan P. Ball’s Book - Stop. Ask. Explore: Learn to Navigate Change in Times of Uncertainty. We live through uncertain times, and there’s more to embracing it than training ourselves to respond to the unexpected. Instead, we can become explorers with the willingness to ask new questions and experiment with new ways of being as we travel through life’s calms and storms. Most people living with bipolar disorder are prescribed a cocktail of drugs that include mood stabilizers like lithium, antidepressants, antipsychotics, anti-anxiety medication, anticonvulsants, and sleeping tablets, often leaving them so medicated they’re unable to function.
For the better part of my young adult life, I self-medicated with cannabis and alcohol. After my diagnosis, it took a while, but I managed to quit cannabis and reduce my alcohol consumption. Indeed, most health professionals cite the risk of worsening manic episodes with cannabis consumption and its link with the increasing threat of psychosis. And yet, anecdotal evidence both from patients and a few pioneering doctors are reporting some life-changing benefits from CBD-rich cannabis, including mood stabilization, the holy grail in bipolar disorder symptom management. Can cannabidiol, also known as CBD, help treat the symptoms? CBD is a health product that many people use for mental and physical health reasons. But is there any evidence of using CBD for bipolar disorder? Here’s what I was able to find out. The basics Cannabidiol (CBD) is one of the dozens of chemical compounds found in hemp and cannabis plants. CBD has become popular over the past few years, and CBD products are often used for health reasons. CBD is only one of many cannabinoids in cannabis. CBD is nonintoxicating — it can’t make you feel “high” on its own. The cannabinoid that makes you feel intoxicated is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). CBD can be found in numerous forms, including oils, edibles, capsules, tablets, and creams. CBD for bipolar disorder Many people say they use CBD for conditions that affect moods and symptoms like depression and anxiety. At the same time, some evidence suggests that CBD could help with these issues, but there is a lack of research into this topic, as a 2018 review points out. However, some studies prove its effectiveness in concurring anxiety and stress diagnostics. The benefits of CBD for bipolar disorder include:
CBD helps to minimize the impact of bipolar disorders in three different ways. Firstly, cannabidiol can function as a powerful antipsychotic, antidepressant, and anti-anxiety solution. CBD achieves this by modulating specific receptors in the human brain responsible for the distribution of the serotonin hormone. CBD can deliver mood balance and prevent bipolar episodes by increasing serotonin levels. The science behind CBD and bipolar disorder work is a little more complex, but the primary way it works is primarily concerned with serotonin. Secondly, CBD is a potent neuroprotective agent. The human brain can be affected by inflammation in the human body through neuroinflammation. This process is partially responsible for mood disorders and, if left unchecked, can progress into severe neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s, or Parkinson’s, Lastly, cannabidiol can promote growth in the hippocampus region of the human brain. The hippocampus is closely linked to various cognitive functions and is associated with mood balance, emotional control, and memory recall. Clinical investigations have demonstrated that individuals that have been diagnosed with mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety, bipolar, and schizophrenia all possess smaller hippocampi than average. CBD has been proven to promote neurogenesis, or the growth of new neuron cells, in these regions. Safety in use Although there are clear benefits to using CBD with bipolar disorder, there are some important cautions to be aware of before deciding if it’s right for you or not. CBD is considered safe for human consumption. However, it can interact with certain medications, particularly those with a grapefruit warning. Like grapefruit, CBD can affect the enzymes in your liver to change the way your body processes certain medications. If you combine CBD or grapefruit with these drugs, you could experience side effects. If you’re unsure whether CBD is safe, consider talking with your treatment team first. In sum Bipolar disorder can severely interrupt normal daily activities and is challenging to treat effectively. Many people are now turning to CBD to alleviate their symptoms. It works in a few ways related to hormones, neurotransmitters, and central nervous system homeostasis (balance). It also helps alleviate common side effects such as muscle tension, insomnia, anxiety, and depression. The most important thing to remember when taking CBD supplements for bipolar disorder is to first consult with your doctor(s) and avoid any supplement or cannabis containing high amounts of THC. This is very important, as THC can make symptoms of bipolar disorder far worse. |
AuthorI was born in 1986 in Lebanon. I'm still trying to find my passion in life and in the meantime I'm learning to navigate my bipolarity and redefining stability. Archives
February 2024
Categories
All
|