8 Easy, Frugal Self-Care Tips for a Bad Mental Health Day

When you’re suffering from a mental illness like bipolar disorder, some days are worse than others. You will have days where you wake up stressed, depressed, and feeling unloved. Your brain often tells you that you’re worthless, that you don’t deserve love, and that you shouldn’t expend the energy to take care of yourself–and that no one else will either.

So how do you get through a bad mental health day?

The answer is self-care. Self-care is the act of taking responsibility for your physical and mental well-being. That’s it. That’s all self-care is.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Observed in May since 1949, the awareness month aims to educate families and communities about mental illnesses, and support those who struggle with them. One of the best ways to take care of yourself during a mental illness is to practice self-care.

Here are 8 easy, frugal ways to practice self-care when you’re facing a horrible day:

1. Get Out of the House

I know, I know, when you’re feeling down in the dumps, you don’t want to go outside. You’d rather stay in your dark, gloomy bedroom, which is far more comfortable that going outside in a winter drizzle. But trust me, getting outside, even when the sky is overcast, is crucial for your mental health.

Sunshine entering your eyes has a huge impact on your mood. Even if the sky is cloudy, you’ll be absorbing a therapeutic amount of sun–10,000 lux, or units of light. Absorbing this lux helps lower your blood pressure and engender feelings of contentment. A therapy light box uses up to 10,000 units. During the summer, the sun shines up to 30,000 lux.

During the winter, without absorbing the sun, many people suffer from the winter blues, also known as seasonal affective disorder (SAD). For more strategies on how to combat the winter blues, click here.

So getting outside, even for a brief walk, is critical to manage a bad mental health day. Even sitting in a sun puddle in front of a window can help, though walking outside also helps because you’re getting some exercise, too. Try it today.

2. Practice Hygiene

If your energy level is so low that even showering and brushing your teeth sound like onerous chores, then at least use baby wipes or a damp rag, and mouthwash. Washing your face, arms, and the back of your neck will help you feel better. And mouthwash will enable your mouth to feel fresh for a little while.

Practicing hygiene this way only takes a few minutes. You have nothing to lose by trying.

3. Do a Full-Body Check

Performing a full body-check can help you tune into your needs. Sit in a chair or lie down on your bed. Mentally examine your whole body, starting with your toes.

How do your toes feel? Are they sore? Cold? Too warm? How about your shins? How about your hips? Belly? And so on. Keep asking these questions about each of your body parts.

Next, ask yourself how you’re feeling in general. Are you hungry? Thirsty? Tired? When is the last time you’ve eaten or drank water? Can you take a nap?

After you’re done asking questions, start addressing the problems that may have cropped up. Go feed yourself, and drink water. Take a shower if you can, or use baby wipes. Take a nap.

Doing a full-body check can help you identify issues with your body as well as solutions to those issues. Just try it.

4. Take Your Medication

This tip is more preventative than reactionary, but if you have prescribed pills and haven’t swallowed them today, make sure to take them.

If you have fast-acting anti-anxiety meds, for example, then by all means take them if you’re feeling anxious. Sleep aids can also help you take a nap or get a good night’s sleep. Don’t be afraid or ashamed that you need the extra medical help. That’s what your medication is there for.

5. Talk to Someone You Trust

Letting someone you trust know about your bad mental health day can help you feel listened to and empathized with. If the people around you understand your struggles, then you may feel less alone.

Some therapists, if you have one, offer emergency counseling sessions. For a post on how to start seeing a therapist, click here.

If you can’t get a hold of your therapist or you don’t have one, then call or text a trusted friend. If you’re truly alone, then call a warmline or visit an online support group.

6. Appeal to Your Senses

When you’re struggling with a bad mental health day, appealing to your senses is a good way to center yourself.

There are several ways to engage your senses: burn incense or a candle (scent), eat some chocolate (taste), apply lotion to your hands and face (touch), look at a beautiful picture of a forest (sight), or listen to your favorite soothing song (hearing).

If you appeal to your senses, you can ground yourself in the present moment. It’s almost like meditation. Give it a try today.

7. Get Lost in a Book

One of my favorite ways to distract myself is to get lost in an imaginative book. Being transported to another world, reading about people who solve problems that aren’t my own, is a wonderful way to focus on something other than my sad state.

If you can concentrate on reading, try getting lost in a book today. Just pull your favorite off your bookshelf, or find a free one online.

8. Lower Your Expectations of Yourself

On a bad mental health day, just getting through the day is enough. You’re not at your best, so you’re not going to be able to be as productive as you usually are. Bid goodbye to guilt about not being on the go.

Our capitalistic societies (in the US especially) expect us to perform like cogs in the machine. But you are human, and you struggle with a mental illness. You are enough just the way you are.

Final Thoughts

Everyone suffers from a bad mental health day from time to time. These 8 tips can’t cure a mental health day, but may be able to help you manage one. If you can only manage one, that’s okay.

Just pick your favorite off the list, one you can handle, and try it today.

I wish you well on your journey.

Related:

• Getting Support During a Bipolar Depression Episode
• 10 Signs That You Are a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP)
• National Depression Awareness Month: My Experience and How to Get Support

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9 Things I Learned in the Mental Hospital

After the birth of my son eleven years ago, I suffered a postpartum psychotic breakdown and committed myself to a mental hospital. I later wrote a book detailing the experience, and how I reacted at the time. I learned many things during my five-day stay, and I’d like to share some of them with you today. Here are 9 things I learned at the psych ward:

1. Anger is common. The most surprising lesson I learned during my stay at the mental hospital was that anger is shockingly common for patients at first. While there, the doctors seem to be your enemies who want to keep you there. It’s not true. Your doctors want to help you exit the facility successfully. Couple the us vs. them mentality with emotional and mental distress, and it’s not suprising that patients tend to respond with anger. But the heightened emotion tends to dissipate over the length of the stay, as the medication starts working.
2. Inpatient treatment is a stopgap. A stay in a mental hospital is similar to a stay in the physical hospital for surgery: you don’t fully recover while you’re there. A mental break or depressive episode can’t be solved in a day, no matter how good the meds are.
3. The patients are human. One of my main mistakes during my stay in the mental hospital in the mental hospital was dismissing the other patients as “crazy.” But the patients in a mental hospital are human, with all of humanity’s weaknesses and strengths. Everyone has a story. Everyone is suffering more than you know. I learned that I shouldn’t dehumanize or dismiss people because they’re suffering from mental illnesses–including myself.
4. The staff is human, too. Learning that the patients were human was hard, but what was even harder was recognizing that the staff were human, too. At first, I believed the doctors and nurses were out to get me. But the staff are all individuals, and human. Some of them are kind and compassionate, while others are just working a shift. I learned to accept the flaws and foibles of all the nurses and psychiatrists, and that made the stay more bearable.
5. Boredom reigns supreme. After my anger diminished, I was bored out of my skull. I was manic and depressed–suffering from a mixed episode–and restless. The only distractions available were coloring sheets, an ancient, derelict computer, reading old issues of Reader’s Digest, and (gasp!) talking to the other patients. I was far too revved up to engage in coloring or sloooow web surfing or reading, so I talked the ears off of my roommate.
6. Even while psychotic, I was aware of how people treated me. Even during my psychotic break, I was able to pick up on other people’s moods. I don’t know if that’s just a “me thing,” or if everyone psychotic is that in tune with others, but I knew when people were mistreating me. Be careful when dealing with psychotic people, and treat them with respect.
7. Boundaries, boundaries, boundaries. During my stay in the mental hospital, I grew close to my roommate. Too close. I struggled to separate myself from her, even feeling shocked and betrayed that she would vote for a different presidential candidate than I would. I genuinely believed we shared the same thoughts. Learning boundaries was extremely difficult for me, but everyone benefited.
8. The nurses draw your blood after every meal. The other patients and I were required to sit in a garish, orange chair after every meal and “donate” blood. The nurses drew our blood thrice daily, and it wasn’t until the middle of my stay that I realized they were checking to see if the medication was up to acceptable levels.
9. If you commit yourself, the doctors cannot legally hold you.  Missing the first few weeks of my infant’s life was devastating. I was desperate to go home and take care of him. It wasn’t until my fifth day that I learned, through a slip of the tongue from a nurse, that, since I committed myself, I was able to go home anytime. I left against medical advice the day after that–potentially a mistake, as my recovery time from my mixed episode was probably longer than it would have been because I didn’t allow the doctors to do their jobs. Thankfully, God was with me and I did, eventually, recover (see lesson #2).

Final Thoughts

My stay in the mental hospital was literally life-saving. I learned more about myself there in six days than I learned in a year’s worth of therapy prior to that. I learned how to manage myself, other people, and my expectations of those people. I managed my surprising anger. I learned that dehumanizing others is easy and a bad habit to slip into. I learned that mental hospitals sound like scary places, but they’re actually really boring. Above all, I learned that I can handle anything life throws at me.

If you’ve dealt with a stay in a mental hospital, what have you learned?

Related: 

• How to Support a Friend or Loved One Staying in a Psychiatric Hospital
• How to Manage Common Bipolar Disorder Triggers
• How to Survive a Stint in the Mental Hospital

Book Review: Breakdown: A Clinician’s Experience in a Broken System of Emergency Psychiatry

The front cover of Breakdown: A Clinician’s Experience in a Broken System of Emergency Psychiatry (affiliate link*), by Lynn Nanos, featuring a police car shining its headlights on a sleeping homeless person wearing a green hoodie. Credit: Lynn Nanos.

*Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. Thanks for supporting the work at The Bipolar Parent!

America’s mental health system is broken. It has failed millions of people suffering from mental illness and will continue to do so unless sweeping changes are made. That’s the premise of Lynn Nanos’ Breakdown: A Clinician’s Experience in a Broken System of Emergency Psychiatry (affiliate link*).

I was offered a copy by the author in exchange for an honest review, which after reading the book, I am thrilled to provide. Nanos is a clinician in the field of emergency psychiatry in Massachusetts with over twenty years of experience in the field. She is uniquely qualified to write this book, having spent much of her life caring for the sickest of the sick.

According to Nanos, there are three core problems in the broken psychiatric system: a lack of inpatient beds due to deinstitutionalization; malingerers, who falsify claims of mental illness to request inpatient treatment; and that patients are “dying with their rights on.” The latter means that a prioritization of patients’ rights causes people suffering from psychosis who refuse treatment due to a lack of insight into their mental illness to be discharged from hospitals too early. These patients are often homeless and vulnerable to being attacked on the streets. Nanos’ solution to these problems is to promote a program called Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT), a court-ordered program which forces patients suffering from psychosis to comply with treatment when living in the community.

Nanos describes a condition called ansognosia, where patients have a lack of insight into their mental illness. This book has special significance for me because I have bipolar and have endured psychosis, like the patients in the many case studies Nanos covers in Breakdown. When I suffered a psychotic break, I had no insight into my mental illness, like many of the patients suffering psychosis that Nanos describes. I was fortunate in that, as I complied with treatment, I gained such insight and was able to take steps towards recovery before I left the hospital. Like Nanos points out, this is not the case with the majority of others.

What Doesn’t Work Well in Breakdown

Because I don’t want to end on a negative note, I’ll start with one item that didn’t work well for me in Breakdown.

• Disclaimers: The opening chapter is full of disclaimers about what the book does and does not cover. These disclaimers are vital to understanding how the rest of the book works, but they make for dry reading, especially for a first chapter. However, I don’t know how else Nanos would have structured this. These disclaimers are necessary, and they need to be placed upfront.

That’s it. That’s all I didn’t like. If a reader can get past the tedious first chapter, the meat of Breakdown is brilliant.

What Does Work Well in Breakdown

As promised, here’s what does work well in Breakdown:

• Fulfilled Promise: In the opening chapter, Nanos promises a solution to the issues she raises later on, and she delivers on this promise. The writing is accurate and engaging, with case studies of patients offering an emotional look into people who suffer psychosis and their mental illnesses. The book is a blend of clinical information and painfully personal writing, which is another part of what Nanos promises and delivers.
  Research-Backed Opinions: Nanos’ commitment to scientific research is admirable. She cites approximately 300 studies, and the last chapters of Breakdown are especially filled with mental health statistics, which back up her claims.
  Professional Formatting: Despite being self-published, Breakdown is professionally formatted. The cover, featuring a presumably homeless man being confronted by police while lying on a sidewalk, is well-drawn and fabulous. Not that I’m saying to judge a book by its cover, but Breakdown is visually pleasing inside and out.
  Case Studies: The most arresting parts of Breakdown are the case studies. Nanos demonstrates why psychotic patients need treatment through the examination of her encounters with them in a clinical setting. Some examples are: a woman who traveled from Maine to Massachusetts because a spirit called “Crystal” ordered her to, a man who smeared dead insects on his neighbors’ doors to help purify toxins in their apartments, and Lily, a woman who delivered dead dogs to strangers, among other stories. Most of these people refused adequate treatment due to ansognosia. A great number of them bolted before Nanos was able to arrange for transportation to hospitals. Some of them were violent, and a few went on to assault their loved ones, with two specific cases ending in death. The case studies are the most effective parts of Breakdown, and demonstrate why the AOT program is so important.

Final Thoughts

Breakdown: A Clinician’s Experience in a Broken System of Emergency Psychiatry (affiliate link*) is a fascinating book. It’s professionally written and formatted, research based, and effectively delivers its message. The case studies were especially enlightening, and are the heart of Breakdown.

Mental health issues affect all of us, whether we suffer from mental illness, have loved ones who do, or are impacted by the mentally ill people all around us. Read this book and see how you, too, can join the mental health discussion.

*Disclosure: Some of the links above are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

Related:

• Book Review: Dyane Harwood’s Birth of a New Brain
• “How do You Define Mentally Ill?”
• How to Talk to Someone Experiencing A Bipolar Mood Episode
• America Has Highest Rate of Bipolar Disorder Diagnoses in 11-Nation Study

How to Survive a Stint in the Mental Hospital

 

 

A picture of San Juan Regional Medical Center. Credit to flickr.com user teofilo. Used with permission under a Creative Commons license.

A stay in a mental hospital can be a frightening thought. Some patients may be a danger to themselves or others. People are hospitalized in psychiatric wards for a variety of reasons. Some may suffer from depression. And still others may endure anxiety disorders, mania, or any other number of mental illnesses, like bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or postpartum psychosis.

But what about you? How do you survive a stint in the mental hospital, if you need one? Let’s dig in.

Deal with Potential Anger

When starting out your stay in a psychiatric ward, you may find yourself angry. If you’ve been involuntarily committed, you may not believe that you deserve to be there. Even if you do believe you deserve to be there, anger is a common emotion to feel when hospitalized, especially in the first few days. The nurses should be aware of this and will prevent violent interactions between patients, but will largely ignore your outbursts otherwise.

Because the nurses are ignoring your potential anger, you will have to handle it yourself. So now that you know you might have some anger to process, how do you deal with it? Here are some steps that can help:

• When you feel the first stirrings of anger, try breathing deeply through your nose. (For a technique for deep breathing, click here.)
• Create a calming and positive mantra, and repeat it to yourself. Try something like, “chill,” “relax,” or “take it easy.” Repeat this to yourself until you feel the anger ebb.
• Wait to express yourself until after the initial rush of adrenaline has passed, and do so in a calm and appropriate manner. Try to be assertive rather than angry.
• Keep a journal of what makes you feel angry and why, and try to avoid those triggers.
• Listen to those around you. Practicing good listening skills can help clear up disagreements before they start.
• If another patient is trying to get your goat, then walk away, and alert the nurses. Disengage as quickly as you can.

Calm acceptance of your stay in the mental hospital will come in time, unless the anger is a deep-rooted issue. Handling conflict properly with other patients and the hospital nurses is very important. If you don’t deal with your anger, you’ll create problems for everyone involved.

Make Friends

In a mental hospital, you will may be bored and lonely. Some wards don’t allow internet access or phone use, so you might be completely cut off from the outside world. One of the best ways to cope with this problem is to make friends with the other patients. Try to be open to starting new friendly relationships with people. It may relieve you of your boredom and even speed your recovery, because having someone to cheer you on is always good. You’re all in this together.

Even though making friends is good, people can become too close. Nurses are instructed to break apart people who grow too chummy. For example, during my own stay in a mental hospital, I made a friend with whom I became quite codependent. Every time she left the room, I wondered if she was abandoning me. My doctors instructed me not to make my emotional health dependent on her.

That is why establishing healthy boundaries with others is so important. If you don’t want to lend out your personal items, then decline politely whenever someone asks. And don’t tolerate abuse from people either. If they don’t stop hurting you when you ask, be it emotional or physical harm, walk away and alert the nurses.

Note: While making friends is advised, starting a romantic relationship is not. Needless to say, a stay in the hospital is emotionally charged. You’re there to stabilize and recover, and you’re not at your best self. Neither is any other patient. You might find yourself in a whirlwind romance, which won’t benefit either of you. Your ultimate goal is to improve and be released, and a romantic attachment may hinder that.

Fall in Line

Psychiatric wards have a lot of rules. You may receive a tour of the hospital explaining what most of these guidelines are. Pay attention to what the nurses and doctors say with regard to your behaviors and treatments. Make sure you know what expectations are placed on you so you can be released, possibly earlier than expected.

In addition to general rules, there are basic steps you can take to get released. Comply with your individual treatment plan. Attend all the therapy and crafting sessions, and take your medication as prescribed. If you disagree with the treatment plan, talk to your doctors. A willingness to discuss things rationally is better than outright refusal.

You might think, like I did, that the doctors are out to get you or that they’re incompetent. You might believe that they want to keep you in the hospital forever, because it pads their bottom line. I can assure you that that’s not the case. They want you to recover. Talking with them will help both you and them.

You won’t recover until you’ve stabilized, which the medication and therapy is intended to help with. Your doctors have years of experience under their belts, treating all manner of mental illnesses and substance abuse problems. They know what they’re doing, and they really do have your best interests at heart. You don’t need to like them, just work with them.

Conquer Boredom

Having your daily routine interrupted by a stay in the hospital will be very difficult. And without the challenges of work or school, you may end up facing extreme boredom. You will have a lot of time to think, and you might not want to get wrapped up in your thoughts. Try constructive ways to fill your time, such as:

• Exercise. Studies have shown that there are very beneficial effects of working out for your mental health, especially people suffering from bipolar disorder. Ask the nurses if there is an open space where you can get your heart pumping. Jogging in place, doing a few crunches, and trying some pushups for a few minutes is all you really need to do, especially if you’re largely sedentary outside the hospital.
• Reading. Most psychiatric wards own books and magazines available for the patients. Mine had old copies of Reader’s Digest. If you have friends willing to come visit you, ask them to bring reading materials.
• Crafting. You will likely be assigned a crafting or skill-learning class. Take notes and learn how to craft the presented item or perfect the taught skill. Why? It might sound stupid, but creating a handprint turkey is better than being bored.
• Doing crossword puzzles or coloring pages. If possible, ask the nurses to print some of these out for you, or your friends to bring some.

Final Thoughts

A stay in the mental hospital doesn’t have to be a disaster. If you deal with your anger, handle interactions with others appropriately, comply with treatment, and fill your time with constructive activities, you can ensure that you’ll make the best of your stay.

Good luck!

Related:

• Bipolar and Suicidal? You’re Not Alone
• Why Should You Chart Your Moods if You Have Bipolar Disorder?
• Which Mental Health Professional Should You Use?
• The History of the Treatment of Mental Illness

Bipolar Disorder Increases Risk of Early Death From Natural Causes

Credit to flickr.com user Steven S. Used with permission under a Creative Commons license.

Wow, what a headline! After reviewing 17 studies involving more than 331,000 patients, University of Washington (UW) researchers have linked bipolar disorder to a risk of early death from natural causes, such as medical illness. The risk of premature death is from 35 to 200 percent more than people without bipolar disorder, and is the same between men and women. The most common conditions leading to death were heart disease, diabetes, and stroke.

 

Before this study, the higher rate of death linked to bipolar disorder was attributed to suicides and accidents. While patients who suffer from mental illnesses do have a higher chance of accidents and suicides, the new evidence points to medical illnesses as the primary cause of premature deaths.

According to the UW report published in the journal Psychiatric Services, there are many reasons behind the poor health among bipolar disorder sufferers. Reasons such as unhealthy diet, added stress, lack of exercise, substance abuse, and biases among health professionals towards people with mental illnesses.

In addition to those reasons, bipolar disorder can also stress the immune system and the hypothalamic-pituitary axis, a system which handles many processes in the body. Mental illnesses also trigger the flight-or-fight response to stress.

Even more troubling, psychiatric medications that help treat bipolar disorders tend to cause weight gain, leading to obesity and other complications.

But there are attempts to try to reduce the risk of death in people with mental illnesses, such as providing guidelines to mental health professionals to monitor their patients’ physical health. Psychiatrists are also encouraged to teach their patients about how to quit smoking, how to exercise, and about healthy diets.

This study is a step forward in preventing premature deaths, despite its gloomy nature.

Which Mental Health Professional Should You Use?

Credit to flickr.com user Jonas Bengtsson. Used with permission under a Creative Commons license.

Mental health professionals come in all types. When making the decision as to which doctor to start a treatment plan with, keep in mind that you can try several–as many as you can afford, that is. Your primary care physician can refer you to one or many of these mental health professionals.

 

Psychiatrist

A doctor trained in the medical field of psychiatry, including the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental and emotional illnesses. The most important job of a psychiatrist is to prescribe medication for you. Unlike psychologists, psychiatrists are medical doctors. You will likely be referred to a psychiatrist at least once in your mental healthcare journey.

Child/Adolescent Psychiatrist

Just like it says on the tin, a child/adolescent psychiatrist is a medical doctor specifically trained to treat mental illnesses or behavioral problems in children. These professionals can and will prescribe medication.

Psychologist

A psychologist is a mental health professional with a doctoral degree in psychology who can diagnose and treat mental illnesses with courses of therapy. Unlike psychiatrists, psychologists do not prescribe medication. There are two forms of psychology: applied psychology, which includes “practitioners,” and research-oriented psychology, which includes “scientists.” Psychologists are trained as researchers and practitioners.

Clinical Social Worker

A clinical social worker is a counselor with a master’s degree in social work who provides individual and group counseling. The social workers have three years or more of supervised experience. They do not prescribe medication.

Licensed Professional Counselor

A licensed professional counselor (LPC) is a counselor with a master’s degree in psychology and several years of supervised experience who offers individual and group counseling. In the U.S., the title varies by state, but the most common next to LPC is licensed mental health counselor (LMHC). The counselors do not prescribe medication.

Certified Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselor

A certified alcohol and drug abuse counselor is a mental health professional with specific training in substance abuse treatment. The counselor can provide individual and group counseling. The counselor does not prescribe medication.

Marital and Family Therapist

Marital and family therapists are professionals specializing in relationships between families, or couples. The therapists emphasize familial relationships as important to consider for your mental health. The counselors have master’s degrees in psychology and related fields, and do not prescribe medication.

Several types of mental health professionals are available to help you. These are just a few of them. A lot of the counselors seem interchangeable, but they all have different approaches, tailored to you.

How to Get a Psychiatric Evaluation

Credit to flickr.com user Lisa Brewster. Used with permission under a Creative Commons license.

Mental illnesses are common–roughly 1 in 5 American adults have one–but people with depression or bipolar disorder can sometimes take up to ten years before they seek out care for themselves. Are you ready to take the first steps towards getting a potential diagnosis? Read on to find out where to seek help.

 

Where to Find Help

• Ask your primary care physician for a referral to a mental health professional. Other people who can refer you are crisis centers, or a local Mental Health America office. Ask for more than one doctor, so you can comparison shop.
• To get an evaluation, try the psychiatry department of a university. Psychiatrists at a college will be up-to-date on cutting-edge research, and be more willing to stick with proven drugs such as lithium because they’re well-researched.
• Contact your health insurance plan to find providers covered under your plan.
• If you are a veteran, try the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, located online at www.va.gov/health. You can also call 1-877-222-8387. Veterans who already have benefits through the department can visit www.va.gov/directory to find a mental health professional covered under the VA’s plan.
• The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration is also a great place to check for mental health professionals. The department is located online at http://www.samhsa.gov/treatment. You can also call 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
• If you work for a large company, you may have an employee assistance program (EAP) available. Contact Human Resources to find a provider under the EAP.
• What about Medicare and Medicaid? Check Medicare at www.medicare.gov. Mental health professionals who accept Medicaid might be listed by your state’s Medicaid office. Click on the name of your state at http://www.benefits.gov/benefits/browse-by-category/category/MED.

What to Expect

You will first talk to your referred mental health professional on the phone. Ask them about how they like to approach therapy and medication. Make an appointment if you feel comfortable with them during the phone interview.

At the appointment, your psychiatrist or psychologist should refer you to a lab to check your thyroid levels and rule out other physical causes of mental illness symptoms. Your doctor will ask you why you called him or her, what you think the problem is, and about your job and living situation. You may be given a few questionnaires to evaluate your mental health and any adverse symptoms. This testing can take hours.

Sometimes, a mental health professional may want to interview your family and friends. Your doctor cannot interview them without your consent. Consider asking your loved ones if they’d be willing to submit to an interview.

After that, be patient! Getting a diagnosis–and an accurate one, no less–takes time, but it’s an important part of developing a treatment plan, including therapy and/or medications.

Bipolar Patients More Than Twice As Likely to Have Suffered Childhood Adversity

Credit to flickr.com user Zach Korb. Used with permission under a Creative Commons license.

A new study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry looking at more than thirty years into bipolar disorder research found that people with the disorder are 2.63 times more likely to have suffered adversity as children than the general population.

Adversity is defined here as emotional, sexual, or physical abuse, or the loss of a parent before the age of nineteen. While the loss of a parent did not raise the risk of a bipolar diagnosis significantly, people who were emotionally abused were more than four times as likely to have a subsequent diagnosis of bipolar disorder.

The study, run by researchers at the University of Manchester, gathered data from millions of patient interviews in nineteen studies between 1980 and 2014. The authors of the study believed that bipolar disorder had a similar link to childhood adversity like schizophrenia, and does not just stem from bio-genetics.

The hope that the researchers have is that specialized therapy plans can be put into place for people who have suffered childhood abuse, and that future diagnoses can take into account personal histories.

The History of Bipolar Disorder

Credit to Feedspot

A quick housekeeping note: I was recently awarded the nineteenth spot on Feedspot’s Top 100 Bipolar Disorder Blog list. The blogs were ranked by a editorial panel based on Google search rankings, popularity on social media websites, and quality and consistency of posts.

Thank you. We now return to your regularly scheduled post, The History of Bipolar Disorder.

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The history of bipolar disorder is a fascinating study of a mental illness that goes back to the second century. The ancient Greeks and Romans found that lithium salts in baths eased the symptoms of what they termed “melancholia” and mania. Aretaeus of Cappadocia demonstrated a link between the two mood states, a finding that would go unrecognized for several hundred years. Many mentally ill people were executed at this time based on fears about demon possession.

Early Chinese authors recognized bipolar disorder as a mental illness. In his Eight Treatises on the Nurturing of Life, Gao Lian (c. 1583) outlines the disorder. Avicenna, a Persian physician, established the disease in 1025, separating it out from other forms of madness, like rabies.

Credit to flickr.com user Jessi RM. Used with permission under a Creative Commons license.

In 1854, French psychiatrist Jules Baillarger coined the term “dual-form insanity,” describing the oscillating symptoms of depression and mania. Two weeks later, Jean-Pierre Falret called the same disorder “circular insanity” while detailing that the disease clustered in families, proving a genetic link.

Emil Kraepelin was the next psychiatrist to address the illness, in the early 1900s. He coined the term “manic-depressive psychosis” to differentiate it from schizophrenia and to describe the relatively symptom-free intervals in the course of the untreated disorder. Carl Jung made a distinction in 1903 between bipolar I and bipolar II, focusing on psychotic states vs. that of hypomania.

John Cade, an Australian psychiatrist, then discovered the calming effect of lithium on patients with manic-depressive illness in 1949. But it took until 1970 for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to approve of lithium’s use.

In 1952, the idea that the disorder ran in families was revisited in an article published in the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disorder, termed “manic-depressive reaction.” Then, Karl Leonhard introduced the terms bipolar (with mania) and unipolar (with depressive episodes only) in 1957.

People with bipolar disorder at this time and throughout much of the 1960s were institutionalized due to manic-depression not being recognized as an illness. That changed in the early 1970s, and in 1979 the National Association of Mental Health (NAMI) was founded.

The term “bipolar disorder” didn’t appear in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, third edition (DSM-III) until 1980, but it has quickly been accepted as less stigmatizing than “manic-depressive illness.” The history of the condition is a captivating look into the evolution of how we as a society treat mental illnesses.