How To Manage Bipolar Disorder

Hello everyone!

I hope everyone is having a lovely day so far!

Bipolar disorder can really affect your life. Ofcourse bipolar disorder is a biological ilness that is not solely dependent on environmental stresses or triggers, but there is the potentional to reduce the number of episodes or the severity of them by controlling your triggers. The methods I am going to talk about today, might support you through that process!

1. Identify Triggers

The first thing is to identify things that trigger an episode, either an episode of depression or mania. Some examples of this would be work/school stress, arguments with family members and a huge one is not getting enough sleep. It is pretty common in the spring or the summer for the longer days to trigger a manic or hypomanic episode because people will start sleeping less... Try to identify the triggers, or outside influences, that have led to mania or depression in the past. You could write this down and make a list, this could be helpful for number 6.

2. Record Your Moods With A Mood Diary

This doesnt have to be anything fancy, you dont have to go buy a book! If you click on the link below, you can download a Mood Diary for free. You can use this diary to monitor your progress or notice when your moods are coming on. You can also use this for identifying your triggers or the other things I am going to discuss.

3. Establish A Daily Routine

This is important for everyone ofcourse, because we all need structure. But people with bipolar disorder are particularly sensitive to changes in structure and routine. So the triggers that we listed in number 1 are some of the things that can destabilize or disrupt your routine. Here are a few things your daily routine should consist of, a few basic things to make it easier:

- A regular time to wake up and to get to bed

- A regular time frame that you eat your meals (ofcourse not always possible if you dont live alone)

- A moment of self-care: this could be anything that makes you feel relaxed or de-stressed.

You should think of these points as anchor points throughout your day. Then all your other activities would be filled in around those anchor points.

You are not always going to be able to control your work/school schedule, but if you dont have these anchor points, then you never even think about it and then you just have this kind of free-floating day that just kind of comes and goes and that is the thing that can really lead to sleep deprivation when youre in a manic episode or starting to get there. It could also lead to just wanting to sleep everyday, because you are depressed. We use number 4 for that problem.

4. Have An Activity Plan (Disaster Management Plan)

Having an Activity Plan when you start oversleeping or withdrawing from people when you are in a depressed phase can be very helpful. You can see it as a ‘Disaster Management Plan in place before the hurricane comes. When you arent sleeping in your regular sleeping schedule, you can pull out your activity plan. This could have things on it like walking the dog, taking a walk, vacuuming the house… These are just a few examples, as long as they are activities that force you to get your body moving, even if you are in your depressed phase. Every amount of activity and movement is improvement!

5. Use Dark Therapy

There have been multiple studies showing that there is a connection between bipolar disorder and your body clock. People with bipolar disorder can be particularly sensitive to the light-dark schedule. Dark therapy could really help with manic or hypomanic phases. This means keeping yourself in a dark environment from 6pm to 8am. This is not easy and achievable for everyone, but a substitute would be using blue light blocking glasses. This has the same effect, because blue light is the light that really affects your body clock.

6. Relapse Prevention Plan (Strategy to avoid triggers or be less reactive to them)

This is where we would use the triggers we wrote down at number 1. You could ask your therapist, doctor… (or Listener) to help you brainstorm through some strategies. Look at each situation from your trigger list. Think about what roles these triggers played in the lead up to a depressive or manic/hypomanic episode. Brainstorm and record how to avoid the situation or lessen the impact of the situation.

Click here to download the Relapse Prevention Plan (Trigger List, Activity Plan, Mood Diary)

Thank you so much for your time. If you decide to try them, feel free to let us know how it went!

Lots of love and hugs,

Dimara <3

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