How to Prevent a Depressive Episode if You're Bipolar
Never attempt to diagnose your own episodes as being bipolar or otherwise., Stay healthy., Ask yourself what brought on these feelings., Don't be so hard on yourself!, Find a forum., Read other people's stories., Remember past episodes., Give...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Never attempt to diagnose your own episodes as being bipolar or otherwise.
If you have been diagnosed, you will know that sticking to your schedule and your medication, as well as talking about or writing down your feelings are the best ways of beginning to deal with and, hopefully, somewhat avoid a depressive episode. -
Step 2: Stay healthy.
One of the most important factors in avoiding or helping to ease a depressive episode is ensuring you are maintaining as healthy a lifestyle as possible.
Eight or so hours sleep each day, eating 5 small meals a day, drinking plenty of water and avoiding illegal drugs will all improve your chances.
This may not be easy or even seem a plausible way of helping (who hasn't thought "what's the point?"), but every piece of advice will say it is.
It is a huge factor
- keeping your body happy and healthy gives your mind the space and energy to focus its attention on the part of your life that is hurting at the moment. , Did any one thing happen recently that may be causing you to spiral down a bit? If so, put these feelings in your diary, or confide them to a friend you trust to let you talk them through without being judgmental.
Talking things through can open up a lot of opportunity for your own mind to see fit reason for your feelings. , No matter what you are discovering is the cause of your depression
- whatever has happened, what truly matters now is that you deal with it in a way which will help you.
Being hard on yourself about what caused you to face this problem is useless
- you can't change the past, so focus on how you WANT to better your situation. , Reaching out can help you find someone that does care about what happens to you.
The best thing is it is anonymous, so you can unashamedly talk about your deepest feelings.
No one will judge you; they are there to help, and a lot of them are in the same boat, or know someone close to them who is. , Sometimes all you need is a broader perspective as a reminder that you can, at the very least, deal with this, too. , You have seen yourself through **** before, so there is no reason you won't be able to at least assess your situation logically and help your chances of getting through it again in one piece.
Remember the times you have smiled, and why.
Remind yourself that you have gotten this far, so it would be silly to go backwards.
Look to today, not the future or past.
What is important is that the huge and heavy ache on your heart be eased enough so that you can seek further help to fix the rest. , When you do sort through your feelings, make sure to thank yourself by writing down how you think you have done this, the exact steps you took, so that you can be proud of yourself and have evidence of your strength for your next episode. , One of the most important things you can know about this condition is that the chances are high that you will go up or down once more, and the more you sift through your mentality logically and document your progress, the more you will see just how strong of a person you truly are. -
Step 3: Ask yourself what brought on these feelings.
-
Step 4: Don't be so hard on yourself!
-
Step 5: Find a forum.
-
Step 6: Read other people's stories.
-
Step 7: Remember past episodes.
-
Step 8: Give yourself credit.
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Step 9: Remember that there probably will be another episode.
Detailed Guide
If you have been diagnosed, you will know that sticking to your schedule and your medication, as well as talking about or writing down your feelings are the best ways of beginning to deal with and, hopefully, somewhat avoid a depressive episode.
One of the most important factors in avoiding or helping to ease a depressive episode is ensuring you are maintaining as healthy a lifestyle as possible.
Eight or so hours sleep each day, eating 5 small meals a day, drinking plenty of water and avoiding illegal drugs will all improve your chances.
This may not be easy or even seem a plausible way of helping (who hasn't thought "what's the point?"), but every piece of advice will say it is.
It is a huge factor
- keeping your body happy and healthy gives your mind the space and energy to focus its attention on the part of your life that is hurting at the moment. , Did any one thing happen recently that may be causing you to spiral down a bit? If so, put these feelings in your diary, or confide them to a friend you trust to let you talk them through without being judgmental.
Talking things through can open up a lot of opportunity for your own mind to see fit reason for your feelings. , No matter what you are discovering is the cause of your depression
- whatever has happened, what truly matters now is that you deal with it in a way which will help you.
Being hard on yourself about what caused you to face this problem is useless
- you can't change the past, so focus on how you WANT to better your situation. , Reaching out can help you find someone that does care about what happens to you.
The best thing is it is anonymous, so you can unashamedly talk about your deepest feelings.
No one will judge you; they are there to help, and a lot of them are in the same boat, or know someone close to them who is. , Sometimes all you need is a broader perspective as a reminder that you can, at the very least, deal with this, too. , You have seen yourself through **** before, so there is no reason you won't be able to at least assess your situation logically and help your chances of getting through it again in one piece.
Remember the times you have smiled, and why.
Remind yourself that you have gotten this far, so it would be silly to go backwards.
Look to today, not the future or past.
What is important is that the huge and heavy ache on your heart be eased enough so that you can seek further help to fix the rest. , When you do sort through your feelings, make sure to thank yourself by writing down how you think you have done this, the exact steps you took, so that you can be proud of yourself and have evidence of your strength for your next episode. , One of the most important things you can know about this condition is that the chances are high that you will go up or down once more, and the more you sift through your mentality logically and document your progress, the more you will see just how strong of a person you truly are.
About the Author
James Clark
Professional writer focused on creating easy-to-follow organization tutorials.
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