Got Bipolar? E-Book

Alfredo Zotti

• Herausgeber: Loving Healing Press
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Seitenzahl: 115

Beschreibung

Marshal the Skills and Resources You Need to Live Your Best Life!

This book is about how to recover from bipolar disorder, or at least how to attempt to recover from it. Sufferers will be briefly introduced to new coping skills including: emotional regulation, method acting, empathy development and relaxation. In order to get the most out of this book, you’ll need to develop your own strategies, based on the recommendations of this book.

“In Got Bipolar?, Zotti offers unique insights based on his personal experience of coming to terms with his own bipolar condition. Applying method acting as an emotional regulation tool mirrors the work of Marsha Linehan and her concept of ‘opposite action to the emotion’, a tool long recognized as effective in regulating emotions. Additionally, his focus on developing hobbies and interests in one’s life also reflects Linehan’s emphasis on creating a life worth living through the pursuit of meaningful activities. Zotti’s book will, no doubt, provide an invaluable guide for sufferers of bipolar disorder and I highly recommend it.”
--Paul Corcoran, Clinical Psychologist, Moving Forward

“If you or someone you know has been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder (BPD), Got Bipolar? is a good place to start to try to make sense of it all. Topics include self-care, medications, coping skills and responding to someone in crisis. Zotti has lived with BPD most of his life, so he has walked the talk. The messages are of hope, loving yourself throughout this process and, if you are looking for help with a loved one, recognizing that the person is more than just this illness.”
-- Judy Wright, mental health patient advocate

“Got Bipolar? offers a framework for the sufferer in need of skills to overcome symptoms. Zotti personally uses method acting as a coping skill to reverse mood states. Even a smile has the power to shift a low mood. He covers the basics, but it is up to the readers to increase their knowledge of emotional regulation, empathy development, relaxation techniques and other coping skills. This book is a really good primer for anyone suffering from Bipolar Disorder.

Leseprobe

Got Bipolar?

An Insider’s Guide to Managing Life Effectively

Alfredo Zotti

Loving Healing Press

Ann Arbor * Sydney

Got Bipolar? An Insider’s Guide to Managing Life Effectively

Copyright © 2018 by Alfredo Zotti. All Rights Reserved.

2nd Printing – April 2018

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Zotti, Alfredo, 1958- author.

Title: Got bipolar? : an insider’s guide to managing life effectively / by Alfredo Zotti.

Description: Ann Arbor, MI : Loving Healing Press, [2017] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017044718 (print) | LCCN 2017043563 (ebook) | ISBN 9781615993642 (ePub, PDF, Kindle) | ISBN 9781615993628 (paperback : alk.paper) | ISBN 9781615993635 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781615993659 (large print paperback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781615993642 (ebook : PDF, Kindle, ePub)

Subjects: LCSH: Manic-depressive illness--Treatment. | Manic-depressive persons--Psychology.

Classification: LCC RC516 (print) | LCC RC516 .Z684 2017 (ebook) | DDC 616.89/5--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017044718

Distributed by: Ingram (USA/CAN/AU), Bertram’s Books (UK, EU).

Published by:

Loving Healing Press

5145 Pontiac Trail

Ann Arbor, MI 48105

www.LHPress.com

[email protected]

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1 - Ingredients Important for Recovery

Knowledge of Bipolar Disorder

Helpful Books

Nutrition

Love Yourself

False Beliefs & Distorted Thinking

Chapter 2 - Recovery

What Matters: Toward Recovery

Fighting Stigma and Myths

The Negative Ideology of Mental Disorders

Barriers to Recovery

Resilience

Steps for Successfully Coping

“Social Support”

Chapter 3 - Method Acting and Emotional Regulation

Method Acting

Acting as a Coping Mechanism

Emotional Regulation

Life as a Recovering Actor

The Reality of Hope

Become an Active Participant

The Importance of Hobbies

Chapter 4 - Three Types of Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar 1 Disorder

More than a Biological Disorder

Helpful Medications

Bipolar 2

Cyclothymia

Depression

Conclusion

Chapter 5 - The Finnish Open Dialogue Method.

Rufus May and the Recovery Journey

The Open Dialogue Approach

Psychosis and Open Dialogue

Treatment as Intervention

Concluding Thoughts

Chapter 6 - The Biopsychosocial Model of Mental Health

Psychology and Art

Meditation and Mindfulness

Toward a Spiritual Science

Changing the Script

The Study of Human Beings

Conclusion

Appendix: Therapeutic Readings

Desiderata

The Cracked Pot

References

About the Author

Index

Introduction

This book is about how to recover from bipolar disorder, or at least how to attempt to recover from it. The use of Emotional Regulation, Method Acting, Empathy Development, and Relaxation, which can be used to learn new skills that can help sufferers to recover, is covered briefly so you, the reader and sufferer, will need to do further research in order to get the best out of this book. The book will emphasize the right knowledge and skills the sufferer needs to develop. Because of the complexities of these issues, this book is just a guide, so the person needs to develop his or her own methods, based on this book’s recommendations, in order to succeed.

Bipolar disorder is a serious condition that, as I have argued in previous books, and particularly in Alfredo’s Journey:An Artist’s Creative Life with Bipolar Disorder (Zotti, 2014), can interfere with the total health of the sufferer, making life very difficult. In the more severe cases, it can lead to suicide and cause much pain and discomfort not only to the person who suffers from it but for family members and friends.

Many people have learned how to cope with bipolar disorder and function reasonably well. They are said to have recovered from the disorder. Recovery does not mean cure; it simply means the person can function despite the symptoms and moods and is able to work toward a better life. In this sense, if you are someone who walks toward hope and has some positive thoughts, then this book is for you. If you are someone who lives in hopelessness and feels bipolar is a curse and that nothing will help, then it is doubtful anything will help until you break away from this damaging mindset.

Hope is not all that is needed. As you read this book, you will get to know the main ingredients necessary to recovery. Things like knowledge, good nutrition, good habits, adequate sleep, the right people around you (support group), and the right mental health professionals for you. You will realize that in order to walk toward recovery, you will need a support team of professionals and friends who will help, support, and understand you. If you are surrounded by people who make you feel bad, who drain your mind of all positivity, then it is unlikely you will be able to recover. The quality of your environment, both physical and social, is extremely important for good mental health.

In addition to these important factors, there are also strategies that can help you get on the road to recovery. One strategy I will mention here is that aspects and mechanisms of the acting profession can be used to help people who suffer with a mental disorder. It is not suggested that sufferers pick up acting as a profession because, as is commonly known, acting is a stressful job. For example, O’Neill (2015) argues that the demands of acting as a career are causing mental ill health for many struggling actors. We have all read something about the price of celebrity for actors who become famous.

What we are interested in is how Method Acting and Emotional Regulation can be useful in acquiring skills that help sufferers cope with mental ill health, symptoms such as depression and anxiety.

One of the most obvious benefits of acting is, as my friend Judy Wright puts it: “When performing, one dissociates from personal issues and focuses on telling a story. Maybe focusing outside ourselves makes it easier to regulate emotions.”

I tend to agree with Judy that performing on stage can help us focus outside ourselves, making it easier for us to regulate emotions. However, this is easier said than done, particularly for people who have no access to a stage or to acting classes. Never fear—that is the reason for this book: to inform the reader what can be done to acquire an actor’s skills. Just how would someone go about using acting skills to get out of debilitating depression?

Imagine you are in bed, unable to move due to severe depression. How can you help yourself? If you become high due to elevated moods, how can you help yourself? You are happy, the world is your oyster, and it is difficult to realize you are high and need to do something to calm yourself down. What to do?

Suggestions in this book will tell you to rely on others to understand your emotional and mental state. Listen to others and particularly those who are close and know you well. Ask a person you truly trust and who loves you to help you monitor your symptoms and moods, particularly if you happen to develop distorted thinking. A close person can be like a mirror for your emotions and moods and can really help you stay reasonably well. That person will gladly help you, and it is important you listen to and grow with him or her. This person might be your sister, brother, or mother. Ask the person to help you.

It is not just one thing that has to go right for someone to cope reasonably well, but a number of things. This means that coping reasonably well will depend on a balance between the right social environment, right opportunities, resilience of the person, and level of education, which has an impact on the person’s psyche. We now begin to understand that the person has to work diligently to make all of this happen because our thoughts can impact our future and our life. We are not only what we eat but also our own thoughts. We are what we think we are, and what happens to us has a lot to do with what we think will happen to us.

What this book will show is that our ideology on mental disorders is very problematic. Today, it is clear for many enlightened mental health professionals that the mind’s problems are not diseases. This is for two reasons: first, in the majority of cases of mental disorder, no specific physical causes can be identified; second, the problem has often to do with past traumas and the person’s psyche (CDC, 2016; Read, Shannon, Douse, McCusker, Feeney, Barrett, Mullholland, 2011). The child is trapped in the adult body, unable to move on due to the trauma. Emotional growth is arrested or stumped. The trauma must be identified and worked upon for real improvement to show. My approach in this book can potentially help many sufferers with bipolar disorder.

In my many email communications with mental health professionals, I have frequently been told that people often take too much medication and do little or no therapy. If people go regularly to therapy and develop strategies to cope better, then they can reduce the amount of medication. Given that Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is present in the majority of cases of mental disorders, some say up to 85 percent, it is important to consider this advice from the more aware professionals.

It is also widely known, among the better and more educated mental health professionals, that the biopsychosocial model of any mental disorder is the right approach. This means a complete investigation and assessment of biological, psychological, and social factors that affect the person’s wellbeing. Unfortunately, even in Australia, there is the tendency among the less skilled mental health professionals to see the problem as a purely biological one. But here is the problem that is very well-known among skilled mental health professionals:

Conventional psychiatry is plagued by a confusion that lies at the very center of the conceptual problem of all modern, scientific medicine. Instead of asking why a mental illness occurs, medical researchers try to understand the biological mechanisms through which the illness operates. These mechanisms, rather than true origins, are seen as the causes of the illness. Accordingly, most current psychiatric treatments are limited to suppressing symptoms with psychoactive drugs. Although they have been successful in doing so, this approach has not helped psychiatrists to understand mental illness any better, nor has it allowed their patients to solve the underlying problems. (R.D. Laing in Capra, 1988)

Common sense is important. Believe it or not, even some doctors and mental health professionals lack common sense when it comes to mental disorders. For example, what is the use of medicating a woman who is constantly beaten by her partner? It is clear she needs to escape domestic violence if her condition is to improve. No medication available today will compensate for the trauma she endures every day.

A doctor, or other mental health professional, should always ask what the likely social and environmental problems may be before jumping to medication. Medication, in unfavorable cases, can be more harmful than good: for example, an overdose that leads to suicide or side effects, or addiction to drugs (Reznik, 2006).

Because of all of the above reasons, my suggestion is never to stop asking for help, any help, be it financial or otherwise. There is nothing wrong with asking for help, and one way to ensure we become used to seeking the right help is to write to specific organizations that can help us like Lifeline or SANE. Writing or speaking to such organizations will let them know what we need and will often lead to some help. Even the act of speaking to someone about one’s problems is enough to make a huge difference, particularly when a sufferer is contemplating suicide.

This book is about solving underlying problems and helping the person to recover. To conclude this introduction, if you suffer with bipolar and want to recover, there is always a need to attend to the psychological (what is in your mind, how you see the problems, and how you respond to life’s problems), social (the people around you—are they helpful to you? Are they supportive?), and biological (in terms of finding the right medication that will help you).

Chapter 1 - Ingredients Important for Recovery

Knowledge of Bipolar Disorder

At the top of the recipe, we put “knowledge of the disorder.” What is bipolar disorder and what causes it? These are the million-dollar questions to which professionals and writers have provided different answers, and in this sense, we have different perspectives.

Basically, there are those who feel that “there is only a brain” and the brain malfunctions in bipolar disorder. The malfunction is permanent and the only solution for this defect is medication first and therapy second. This is not my view.

Then there are those who propose that there is a mind, not just a brain. Medication is a crutch that is good at the beginning, and it is certainly good for the more severe types of bipolar, and therapy is always needed for us to learn coping mechanisms and simply to talk about our problems with a professional, friend, or family member. However, for true recovery, the sufferer has to do a lot of work, a lot of the right work. In this sense, I am on the side of those who propose that, while everything is in the brain, there are also stories and worldviews that matter a lot because stories and worldviews can influence our thinking or the brain’s functioning. Stories and worldviews take on a life of their own, even though they are abstract things, and we absorb these stories and worldviews with our brain.