I’ve recently been re-watching my favorite comedies. These help on the dark days. I was watching a lot of drama shows from England and it was just getting me down. Here are a few comedies I like:
Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion
The Castle
Bowfinger
There’s Something About Mary
Team America. (Warning- this is a very adult puppet movie! )
Zoolander
These are laugh out loud movies. There are not many good comedies in the theaters these days! It’s hard to do an adult comedy.
A friend of mine watches a lot of afternoon TV – junky stuff and it really gets her down. It makes no sense to do this when you have bipolar disorder. It just makes the illness worse. Why not watch a comedy!
I’m not trying to sound like a mother, but I know that watching comedies makes a difference! I do sound like my mother.
Mania only exists in bipolar disorder. It’s a chemically elevated mood that can be euphoric (happy, creative and sometimes delusional!) or dysphoric /mixed (agitated, depressed and uncomfortable.) Mania is often more difficult to treat than depression.
OCD: A form of anxiety characterized by obsessive thoughts that are seemingly calmed by compulsive behavior- only to show up again! OCD can be treated with antidepressants, but behavioral therapy has the most success.
Bipolar Depression: The downswing of bipolar disorder that is almost always complicated by the presence of other symptoms such as anxiety. It can be present with mania in a dysphoric/mixed episode. It’s not advisable to use antidepressants for bipolar depression as they can cause mania. Bipolar depression is much more difficult to treat than unipolar depression.
Bipolar disorder is complicated. It’s important to know all of its symptoms.
I used to travel all over the world when I was younger. Japan, China, France, Hawaii. And then the bipolar got worse. I found travelling too stressful and didn’t travel for a few years. Then I came up with a sytem for traveling that limits anxiety and makes it possible for me to have a good time wherever I go. Tomorrow I fly to Las Vegas with a friend. She also has bipolar disorder, so we will be fine terms of taking care of ourselves. We are both on meds, so mania is unlikely. Darn it! 😉
This shows that we can get better. Just five years ago I would not have gone. Now I can’t wait. We can all get better. We can change and do the things we used to do. It’s all possible.
Bon Voyage if you are traveling. Happy holidays if you’re staying at home! julie
PS: 2012. You will never believe this. I still can’t believe this. My friend and vacation companion Sheri got a virus on the plane and was sick within three hours of landing. She went to the hospital that night and flew home the next day- I got a flight out on Christmas day and at Christmas dinner I felt a tiny tummy rumble and thought- oh well, I just ate too much Christmas dinner! Nope. Virus on Christmas day. Sick beyond words. $2000 hospital bill. Merry Christmas! 😉
Sheri and I will always win the worst vacation ever contest!
My dear friend Gayathri Ramprasad came to America from India in an arranged marriage. Her family wanted the best for her and she was fulfilling many dreams to finally come to this country. What no one knew was that Gayathri lived with crippling depression and axiety. After years of illness and treatement including ECT and unsuccessful medication treatment, Gayathri found herself in the psychiatric isolation room of a large hospital here in Portland, Oregon. As Gayathri tells in all of her amazing presentations, it was in that room where she decided she could die or be a beacon of light to everyone with a mental illness.
She came out stronger and has fulfilled her promise to herself to be a light in the world. She is my good friend and I know that she still suffers from her depression and anxiety- it hasn’t gone away- but she is better. Gayathri and I, along with another friend Lilly recently gave a presenation called Culture Counts: Variations in Cultural Value Systems and Their Impact on Mental Health. We all spoke on how our culture impacts our mental illness management and then gave our strategies on how health care professionals can bring more cultural awareness to their practices. Guess what, caucasion woman do have a specific culture- obsessive individualism. I learned a lot from my own topic!
I once watched a reality show on becoming a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader when I was at the gym. I had a political interview show on my IPOD, but this was far more intriguing ! First of all, it was a pretty weak premise for a show – as watching cheerleader tryouts probably brings back a lot of bad memories for those of us who were not fond of high school! But there was something very interesting on the show.
The women had to climb up a really high pole and jump off onto a trapeze bar. Yes, that was one of the tasks. There was one candidate who was very scared of heights. She cried the whole way up the pole. But I had to admire her. She got up there, stood up and jumped off. It was pretty safe as she had on a harness, but I could see it was one of the hardest things she had ever done. I admired that. I haven’t forgotten her bravery. I have a lot of social anxiety around certain situations. I’ve found that some give me severe OCD anxiety symptoms if I let them go too far. It’s hard to keep going in these situations – you either do something dumb like running away- or saying something embarrassing, or drinking too much or just being silent! Next time you can think of the cheerleader – if she can do it. We can do it! Julie
I just received an interesting question from Heather about OCD bipolar disorder symptoms. She wrote that she didn’t know that OCD was so common in bipolar disorder. (It is!) Then she asked about her obsessive thoughts:
Julie
I don’t understand my own obsessive thoughts or where they came from. I am always thinking about paper cutting my eyeball or slicing my achilles tendon. These thoughts make the relative body parts actually hurt! I have no idea why or when these thoughts pop into my head but I can’t get rid of them! Sometimes I wrap my ankles in ace bandages for the psychological ‘protection’ from the unseen knife. Or last time I was in the hospital having the thoughts about my eyeball, they gave me an ice pack to carry around and cover my eye. It was embarrassing but hey, all of us in there have problems. Do you have any suggestions or even an explanation?
Hi Heather,
That is what happens to me when I have mild psychosis. I see myself get killed, maimed, poked, cut etc. All of the good stuff! I didn’t know what it was until I learned more about the illness. I have a lot less psychosis now. Mine is definitely stress related. Did this happen after you went off the Abilify? That is the main question. It can definitely be OCD as it’s a repetitive thought. I deal with this in a few ways- meds of course- then trigger management. Is there anything that triggers these episodes? Could be a stress reaction in general. And then , the hardest to treat is if it’s simply a part of the illness and has nothing to do with any outside influence. I suggest behavior modification help. For example, when I get obsessed= and it is awful – I talk to myself and say,”You have bipolar disorder. This is a part of bipolar disorder. Treat the bipolar disorder first. This is not real.” I do this every time an uncomfortable thought comes up.
You have some questions to answer:
1. Did I have the same symptoms when I was on an anti psychotic?
2. Are these obsessions triggered by events or certain situations?
3. Is it OCD or psychosis?
4. How can I talk to myself to deal with what is going on while I get help.
Those of us on this site know that what you are going through is real. I wish you luck in figuring out exactly what is going on so that you can find relief!
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I’ve recently been re-watching my favorite comedies. These help on the dark days. I was watching a lot of drama shows from England and it was just getting me down. Here are a few comedies I like:
