When you feel a down swing coming on what does it feel like for you? Yesterday when I started feeling “the great sadness” start to creep up on me, at first I could just feel my mood start to sink a little but then I found myself getting extremely fidgety. I started going a little crazy in my head saying things like “what is going on? I need to figure out what has triggered this. Is it this? Was it this? Did this have anything to do with it?” and the more I tried to ‘figure it out’ the more fidgety I was getting. I told myself to go read a chapter of Get it Done or listen to some music that brings my mood [ Read More ]
Yes! Absolutely! Always! It’s hard but I can do it!
That is what you will normally hear me say and it’s true. I can work when I’m depressed. My problem is that I don’t want to work when I’m stable. How often are you stable? It’s a new world to me that I rarely get to visit, but I have noticed many things about this world.
– People like to just sit around and do things- watch TV, go to a movie, have coffee with friends, knit, mess around in the garage, fish, take a walk, relax in a bath, listen to music, go on a road trip. ETC.
Those things are all so hard for me due to mood swings. I’ve had five days of stability recently. [ Read More ]
My coaching clients often ask me this kind of question:
Why can’t the person I care about see that he is depressed?
Why would my daughter stay so unhappy and not do anything about it?
The answer is that depression is tricky. It’s sneaky. It tells you that what it says is real and it tells you that what you feel when you’re depressed is real. I don’t think that it’s possible for people without depression to understand what it’s like, but I do know that it helps to know that those with depression who can’t see what is going on simply have an illness and this is one of the symptoms.
I’ve spent the past 15 years learning to separate myself from my depression. It has been constant work on my self awareness. The depression is still here, but not today- though it could be back tonight! If it were here right now, [ Read More ]
It’s been twenty-seven years since I heard the words that I still remember so clearly, “Lizabeth, you are a textbook case manic depressive” (now bipolar type I). I was seventeen and in the throes of a manic episode. The diagnosis did not mean a whole lot to me at the time. Psychotic features came along with it (for me those were delusions of grandeur and even some slight visual hallucinations). It pretty much came out of the blue—well after a trigger—but what I mean is that I never had any other symptoms prior to it. After a month-long hospitalization and when everything got back to normal, you would have almost thought that it just “went away”. I didn’t really consider if it would happen again. A few months later, I graduated from high school and went to college, took my medicine [ Read More ]
Is this illness really REAL? I ask myself this all of the time.
I was diagnosed with ultra rapid cycling bipolar II with psychotic features in 1995. Now there is a diagnosis! I had my first hypomanic episode in 1980. So I have been living with bipolar disorder for all of my adult life. I’m 47 now. You would think that I would be used to it. I’m not. It always shocks me when I get really sick. The mood swings are just so odd. They can be so random and simply stupid- I can get psychotic just because someone is rude to me in public? That is crazy! I have an argument with my brother and I get in my car and cry so hard I can’t drive? I go out and have fun and meet someone attractive and I get OCD so badly I never call the person again?
Hello to everyone, I recently did an interview with Gary Koplin founder of www.HealthyPlace.com, the world’s top mental health informational site. Gary has always been a strong supporter of my work and I enjoy working with him to educate the public about bipolar disorder and depression as well as help those of us directly affected by mood disorders. Here is the newsletter Gary sent out to promote the event:
Web TV: Managing Severe Depression with Julie A. Fast
Watching this week’s HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show reminded me how debilitating Major Depression alone, or as part of Bipolar Disorder, can be. Many days, our guest, Julie Fast, wakes up crying and sometimes can’t seem to get out of bed.
To watch Julie’s video- search for How to Get Things Done When You’re Depressed.
She’s extremely educated on the subjects of depression and bipolar disorder, [ Read More ]
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Mom Brain Podcast
Listen to Julie’s latest interview on bipolar disorder and mental health in children, teens and adults on the Mom Brain Podcast with Hilaria Baldwin and Daphne Oz.
The health information contained herein is provided for general education purposes only. This site should not be seen as a substitute for an official diagnosis or for professional health care.
