Bipolar Disorder Support Group
Bipolar disorder is not just a single disorder, but a category of mood disorders marked by periods of abnormally high energy and euphoria, often accompanied by bouts of clinical depression. This is the place to talk about your experience with bipolar disorder, learn from others' experiences, and find support.
Wiccanwolf1,
I, by no means, am a bible thumper or religious zealot, how ever after a conversation with someone very dear to me last night, I have been reminded of how We, as both a society and the human race have forgotten about what is truly important.
How we judge ourselves and others based on " What We've accomplished", "What our social status is", and "What wealth or material possessions we have accumulated". It just seems to me, that we no longer put value on or subscribe " Wealth to", things like "What a person's character is" or "What a person brings to other and their community".
At this point you're probably asking yourself, what does this have to do with Bipolar? I think quite a bit.
As people with the bipolar illness, your thoughts and emotions run at a higher level and as such the pressures to succeed, to accomplish become intensified.
I am aware and except that bipolar is based in biochemical imbalances in the brain, however I believe that it is the pressure to "succeed", to "accomplish" that are what trigger and intensify episodes of both depression and mania.
How often do we hear a depression person say " What have I done with my life", "I can't do anything", "I'm a failure or worthless" and how often have we seen someone's mania set off by their attempt to "achieve" something or to reach for some kind of social status.
I often wonder if we were to focus more on "who we are as people, how we treat people (personal growth) and "what we can bring to others and our communities" ( the spiritual ) and less on "what do I have" and "what can I get" and "I want" if it would lessen the stress that we are under and lessen the emotional and mental effects of our imbalances and make them more manageable.
WW
I, by no means, am a bible thumper or religious zealot, how ever after a conversation with someone very dear to me last night, I have been reminded of how We, as both a society and the human race have forgotten about what is truly important.
How we judge ourselves and others based on " What We've accomplished", "What our social status is", and "What wealth or material possessions we have accumulated". It just seems to me, that we no longer put value on or subscribe " Wealth to", things like "What a person's character is" or "What a person brings to other and their community".
At this point you're probably asking yourself, what does this have to do with Bipolar? I think quite a bit.
As people with the bipolar illness, your thoughts and emotions run at a higher level and as such the pressures to succeed, to accomplish become intensified.
I am aware and except that bipolar is based in biochemical imbalances in the brain, however I believe that it is the pressure to "succeed", to "accomplish" that are what trigger and intensify episodes of both depression and mania.
How often do we hear a depression person say " What have I done with my life", "I can't do anything", "I'm a failure or worthless" and how often have we seen someone's mania set off by their attempt to "achieve" something or to reach for some kind of social status.
I often wonder if we were to focus more on "who we are as people, how we treat people (personal growth) and "what we can bring to others and our communities" ( the spiritual ) and less on "what do I have" and "what can I get" and "I want" if it would lessen the stress that we are under and lessen the emotional and mental effects of our imbalances and make them more manageable.
WW
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Good Thursday to you!I've been watching a really long trial on Youtube these last couple of nights and will finish tomorrowHopefully I'll be in the land of nod soon and I hope my peeps are having sweet dreams followed by a great daySending hugs...xo
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Hey all, i know its been quite awhile since i posted on here. Its been a summer all right. Its been something else........... You know how they say not to open the can of worms? Well a few months ago i decided to find out what my due date would have been for my first baby, the one conceived by r***. My baby would have been due on March 4th of 2006. They would be 20 years old. I was R**** on June...
With that said, I totally agree....work on personal growth, humility, finding our purpose for life on this planet and helping others along the way.
you have to give to get, to get to to give, to get! Get it?
Say that 5 times fast.
Perhaps it would help being more aware of it with BP.. Not sure.. Some of it is just the nature of the beast.. Depression=low feelings and Mania=feelings or emotions above and beyond the norm..
Being aware though and giving ourselves a 'talking' to when we're in one of these states can only help ...
I know when I'm in a dark place I do have conversations with my mind that are positive even if I don't really believe it at the time and it helps..
"Stuff" and acquiring .. social status.... is very shallow... and when you 'drop' in societies standards due to illness is does become very apparent....
Great post Wiccan!
You want to teach, but not only are you preaching to the choir, you challenge that your thinking is Correct, and we are all Incorrect.
I love your topic's - except, when you agree to disagree, the sensation, to ME is You've won - and we are ignorant. Not a positive feeling, also has nothing to do with compassion, which most of your beliefs include????
Now, I AM saying all that I Like your wit and intelligence! I believe a lot of what you "preach", but again - your extremist views, on others rights to believe in meds and God are - well, Shit - I hate to use the word arrogant - because you like that one!!!!!!
Ease up Will!!!! Acceptance is not having to hammer a point home : )
Thanks for posting this, it reminded me what is important in life.
Really, I am sorry and wrong - not my place : )
and of course, you know - I agree with everything you wrote, just got hung up on the word "Unpopular"..... not good : /
I've been going though a really bad time of things lately. Triggered by abandonment and attachment issues, heightened by disruption in routine. I should have been in hospital, but having never been there, didn't know how to get myself there in the state I was in and didn't have any help to get me there. I'm not out of the woods by any means, but I can see the tree line. But it doesn't have anything to do with how much I can produce. It doesn't have anything to do with how society views my lack of social interaction. It has to do with how the mental health system in this country fell down on the job and let me fall through the cracks.
I remember watching the original "Dallas" tv show in the '80s and sensing an explosion in our materialism. Suddenly, everyone needed and deserved multiple tvs, a car for every purpose, etc.
The closest town, where The Babies and even Mr. Baby went to high school, is a poor, hard scrabble town. It has a rich and diverse population. Unlike nearby high schools, a sense of humor, character, intelligence were the key factors since everybody's wallet was thin and the parking lot was filled with second-hand farm trucks and jalopies.
How can we remove this preoccupation with material goods? There are a whole lot of folks financially dependent on some aspect of that consumption train.
Psst~~ Wiccan .... I think you sort of revel in wearing the Mr. Unpopular Crown. ;)
All I can say is this; The reason I use the object pronouns "Us" and "We" is that I include myself in as "You" put it "doing these things wrong", though I would prefer using "making these mistakes".
I see them as things that hurt all of "Us", as not only bipolar people but as people in general.
I will admit when I first came to DS, I made some pretty blanket statements in regard to my feelings about medication, it's effectiveness, and whether I believed it was useful or not. I attribute a great deal of that to being excited and perhaps a bit over zealous about coming off my medications and the probable high that it caused.
However, I would hope over the past year and a half, as I have worked to become more stable and more knowledgeable, I have learned that for some people medication will always be necessary.
I am not sure where you get the idea I have extremist views on either meds or religion at this point? The only time I will comment on either at this point is if someone tells an other person there is only "One" way, it's their way and all other idea's are wrong.
If you can provide any instances that I have recently( within the past, say 9 months) that I have told anyone their wrong for using medications or if you can so where I have ever said someone's spiritual beliefs were wrong please point them out to me and I will be happy to address it.
In my own forums, I constantly preach against what I call this "heresy" of the true gospel of Christ. Jesus showed us a way to live with joy, peace and happiness, and total acceptance. Christianity, in spite of it's decline, still influences the media, and this Prosperity gospel is big on TV. It makes me weep.
The Bible (speaking from my own perspective) is totally about two things - loving God and your neighbor as yourself. So to do that, you have to love yourself, and the purpose is to help others.
I read that in South America, community, support is much more important than drugs in treating mental illness and better success rates. That does say something to SC comment about not necessarily being biochemical, if you can treat the disease with love, compassion and caring. (Interesting that a google search on South America only revealed concern that there is not enough access to "health care and meds.")
Let's face it, knowing who you really are is half the point of living, the other half is knowing that the point of life is giving. (A line from an old high school play I was in!)
WW I think this is a great post, and hugs to Gina not feeling so good today!
I'm sorry for my reply without thinking it though, it was inappropriate
I'm sorry
Will
your point stands out in as DS is a way for us to help each other and see past our differences ... and status in life ... we are all human
and i also see your point becoming more and more of a need for us to ally together in a greater way soon...
i am not an alarmist ... but im not that damn stupid either...
our dependence on our current system is so very vulnerable in every way... it seems like it could break down so easy and leave only chaos and panic in its place...
i really dont see any national plan or even the political will to see that even something like Global Warming can be sneaking up on us fast...
and maybe strong repression of this fact ... and the rich running for the high ground for example... like they know... and if the shit hits the fan... they need a plan...i can see a well choreographed tapping of the till with little or nothing being done about it... they think we are stupid...
but i do see we are unprepared ...
thats why i also see this group... as an important tool for community ...
we are exercising our ability to be real
Great topic.
love, hugs and having sex all effect our brain chemistry...so do funerals and i am sure, the evening news.
i'm not saying not to take meds or that chemical "imbalance" is not present. I just find the theory full of holes.
And the term chemical unbalance was coined by pharmaceutical manufacturers...to market and sell meds to a public who doesn't know they yet need them.
Meds are treating a symptom of MI...not the cause. What about AD "poop out", where the medication loses its effectiveness. Why do our brains become chemically unbalanced? Why do our psych meds lose effectiveness....My personal hypothesis is that our body wants to return to a sort of homeostasis (even if homeostasis is miserable)
And meds do often have some pretty shitty side effects. I am saying this because i now have what appears to be a permanent movement disorder from my AP. sux.