There are many myths about bipolar disorder. The most destructive myth is the one about not being able to live a good life. As a result, you think you can’t live a good life, be happy and be successful like everyone else. In this post, we’ll debunk a very destructive bipolar myth.
Here’s a fact, some of the greatest and most creative people either have or had bipolar disorder.
Myths About Being Alone Debunked
It can feel lonely and discouraging when you live with bipolar disorder. Overtime, you’ll see that there are many successful and creative people whose experiences echo your own.
When this happens, you realize you’re not alone after all. You’re all part of the same community. Right away you’ll have an a-ha moment, “If they can be successful, so can I”.
What Success Means If You Have Bipolar Disorder?
Before you debunk one of the most toxic bipolar myths about success, it’s important to explore what it means.
Success is defined as having a favorable or desired outcome. It means different things to different people, success is achieving personal goals. Some goals are considered small by some people and enormous by others.
The number one thing that matters is that goals are personal. This means that each person has their own formula for personal success, if they have bipolar disorder then that formula has to be tweaked.
How To Work Around Bipolar Disorder?
There’s one thing you may notice about most people who suffer from bipolar disorder, their symptoms get in the way of daily functioning. Also, their symptoms make it hard to stay focused on their goals and they end up self-sabotaging their future success.
Also, you may notice many people believe the myths and limiting beliefs that revolve around the disorder.
If you have bipolar disorder, it’s no myth that your initial goal is successful treatment.
There is no cure for bipolar disorder and it’s lifelong, but with successful treatment you can live a happy and productive life.
Successfully Treating Bipolar Disorder Includes:
1. Admitting That You Need Help:
It’s sad that people often don’t get the mental health treatment they need. It’s partly due to denying that they have a problem as well as not knowing where to start.
If you’re having problems with your mental health and you’re looking for help, talk to your primary care doctor. They can give you a referral to a mental health professional.
Also, they can help you find local mental health support groups.
2. Working With A Psychiatrist And A Therapist:
Psychiatrists and Therapists are licensed and trained mental health professionals. Bipolar treatment includes both medication and therapy.
A psychiatrist is a medical doctor with special training in diagnosing and treating mental illness. A therapist helps you change your unhealthy emotions, thoughts and behaviors with talk therapy. It also helps to debunk any myths about bipolar disorder.
There are some other awesome benefits of therapy. It not only helps you understand yourself better, but it also helps you to understand other people.
3. Becoming Aware Of Your Symptoms:
Becoming self-aware happens when you start noticing things about yourself.
It happens when you start noticing your feelings as well as physical sensations. Also, you’ll start noticing your reactions, habits. behaviors as well as thoughts. Self-awareness is understanding how your actions affect you and those around you.
For example, you may not be aware of behavioral changes that happen because of bipolar disorder. When your mood is stable, you’re able to complete daily tasks as well as meet deadlines at work. However, mood changes that come with bipolar disorder can cause you to behave differently.
Due to shifts in mood, you may become anxious and unable to focus. As a result, you’re unable to complete daily tasks and also you’re missing deadlines at work. This leads to disciplinary action as well as termination.
When someone with bipolar disorder is symptomatic, they may not be aware of how the disorder affects their work performance. Also, they may not be aware of the bipolar myths about not being able to get better.
Here’s a related post: “Let’s Explore How Self-Awareness Leads To A Better Self”.
4. Adopting Healthy Coping Strategies:
A coping strategy is a specific action or a series of actions, also it’s a thought process. It’s a way to confront and cope with a stressful situation, whether healthy or unhealthy.
When you’re anxious or angry, you need to cope with it while it’s happening. How you cope with it makes a world of difference. An unhealthy coping skill or strategy is to binge eat or even drink too much alcohol. Both of these lead to worse anxiety and make you more angry.
It’s a common bipolar myth that overeating and binge drinking are good ways to cope.
A healthier coping strategy is to have a plan in place if you’re feeling anxious. It may include exercising, whether it’s power walking or jogging. Also, adopting meditation and deep breathing helps you focus on the present moment, you’ll find that your mind becomes free of distractions.
5. Make Lifestyle Changes
Taking care of yourself is key to managing bipolar disorder. Along with medication and therapy, making lifestyle changes can help you manage your symptoms.
For example, if you live a lifestyle that consists of eating a poor diet made up of simple sugars, it makes bipolar symptoms worse. On the other hand, if you change what you eat, you’ll find that your symptoms improve.
In a previous post “B Vitamins For A Better Mind”, we learned that a nutrient dense diet helps with overall brain health.
6. Set Realistic Goals
It’s a myth that you can’t achieve your goals because you have bipolar disorder. However, it’s not a myth that a common symptom of bipolar disorder is unrealistic goal setting.
Unrealistic goals are a sign of an ongoing manic episode. Also, they set you up for disappointment and frustration, which can be a trigger for mania.
When you’re in a manic or a depressed state it’s not a good idea to set goals until you’re stable. Even if your goals are not grandiose, they’re realistic enough to be achieved. As a result, you’ll get a mental health boost.
7. Don’t Give Up
The most important thing of all is to not give up. Bipolar Disorder is a really hard ailment to live with and it can make it easy to give up, but just remember that there are successful and creative people live with the disorder.
Conclusion
Bipolar Disorder is a lifelong disorder, which is partly why if you suffer from you believe in the myth that you won’t have a good life.
Hopefully by debunking that destructive bipolar myth and take steps toward managing your symptoms, you’ll be able to achieve your goals.
Have You Ever Debunked A Destructive Myth?
Please Like And Comment!
Sources: