David Baxter PhD
Late Founder
Bipolar Disorder Fundamentals
by Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D.
Jun 29th 2010
In considering bipolar disorder, it's important to understand a few fundamental things to pay attention to, symptoms, triggers, and the wisdom of a tracking sheet.
Let's take a look at the ABC's of this right now:
A. Symptom Education - The first thing we want to do is be aware of your symptoms. There are 3 types of symptoms that pertain to Bipolar Disorder depending on whether the mood is depressed, manic or mixed.
If any of this is sounding familiar with you and there is distress in your life, I'd recommend starting the tracking sheet and making an appointment with a mental health professional. At the end of the day, you always have choices and we are active participants in our health and well-being.
For a good and basic read on bipolar disorder, you may want to check out Bipolar 101: A Practical Guide to Identifying Triggers, Managing Medications, Coping with Symptoms, and more by Ruth White and John Preston.
Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D. is a Clinical Psychologist and conducts a private practice in West Los Angeles. He is co-author of A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook (New Harbinger, February 2010). Check out Dr. Goldstein's acclaimed CD's on Mindful Solutions for Stress, Anxiety, and Depression, Mindful Solutions for Addiction and Relapse Prevention, and Mindful Solutions for Success and Stress Reduction at Work. If you're wanting an interactive program to find relief from anxiety and stress, check out Dr. Goldstein's progressive online behavioral change program in Aliveworld. If you're wanting to integrate more mindfulness into your daily life, sign up for his Mindful Living Twitter Feed. Dr. Goldstein is also available for private psychotherapy.
by Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D.
Jun 29th 2010
In considering bipolar disorder, it's important to understand a few fundamental things to pay attention to, symptoms, triggers, and the wisdom of a tracking sheet.
Let's take a look at the ABC's of this right now:
A. Symptom Education - The first thing we want to do is be aware of your symptoms. There are 3 types of symptoms that pertain to Bipolar Disorder depending on whether the mood is depressed, manic or mixed.
- With depressed symptoms, you may notice a lack of interest on pleasure in things, a restlessness, sleep issues, fatigue, change in appetite, and even thoughts of suicide.
- With manic symptoms you may notice more extreme irritability or perhaps feeling excessively high or euphoric. Your mind may be racing far more than usual or you might notice needing less sleep to function. In this mood it's possible to engage in irresponsible behaviors of spending sprees, risky sexual behavior, or an increase in any drug or alcohol use. Most of all, there is often thoughts of denying that anything is wrong (partly because it often, but not always, feels good).
- With mixed symptoms there is more agitation, inability to sleep, pressured crying, and even psychosis.
- If you are diagnosed with bipolar disorder than there are a number of potential triggers that would be good to be aware of so you can manage better. You'll want to be aware of getting good sleep, engaging in stress reduction practices, notice if the change of seasons effect you, be aware that it's easy to skip medication during manic times, and that a regular exercise practice is wonderful for creating balance.
If any of this is sounding familiar with you and there is distress in your life, I'd recommend starting the tracking sheet and making an appointment with a mental health professional. At the end of the day, you always have choices and we are active participants in our health and well-being.
For a good and basic read on bipolar disorder, you may want to check out Bipolar 101: A Practical Guide to Identifying Triggers, Managing Medications, Coping with Symptoms, and more by Ruth White and John Preston.
Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D. is a Clinical Psychologist and conducts a private practice in West Los Angeles. He is co-author of A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook (New Harbinger, February 2010). Check out Dr. Goldstein's acclaimed CD's on Mindful Solutions for Stress, Anxiety, and Depression, Mindful Solutions for Addiction and Relapse Prevention, and Mindful Solutions for Success and Stress Reduction at Work. If you're wanting an interactive program to find relief from anxiety and stress, check out Dr. Goldstein's progressive online behavioral change program in Aliveworld. If you're wanting to integrate more mindfulness into your daily life, sign up for his Mindful Living Twitter Feed. Dr. Goldstein is also available for private psychotherapy.
