Any Rapid-Cyclers? Put your hand up. down. up. down. up...

Hi Moon Gal, I have been chewing over your comments. I am really encouraged that you find your techniques helpful even though you haven't identified the triggers. Catching hold of the horse after she's bolted works for me. My mind can turn into a crazy maze if I try and review every supposed trigger, because my mind is not terribly reliable. My memory can be unreliable, and even thinking situations over can take me down the rabbit hole and lead to no resolution, but a heck of a lot more distress. And, of course, when I'm feeling strong nothing triggers me!

so what I do want to know is do you do these things everyday, regardless of how you feel? For instance, when I'm feeling good I forget that there is anything wrong with me. That is when I can get into trouble down the track by taking on too much because I feel well. Then, when I'm down I drop everything and retreat.

and do these techniques help you to stabilise somehow if you catch yourself spiralling down? Can you halt the growing anxiety or panic or whatever reaction? Can you redirect yourself and continue on as if you were spiralling up?

i would be very keen to hear from you.

@Former-Member I am curious about some of your opinions about what you are reading.

Is Lance Rips on Proof any good?

What do you think about the genetic evidence for mental illness. Diagnosis seems a bit of a quagmire to me so I am a generalist. I could be all of the above or none of the above ... depending ... Have they actually pinned it down to a clear group of genes for Bi polar?

It seems that a few of the patients are better read up on their ilnesses than some of the docs??

Sorry @Appleblossom

I forgot for a moment there I dont give forum advice. At least I try my best not to.

I removed that section of the post,

Alice

oh, I hope my responses to Alice-Dark-Fe did not precipitate her leaving? 😞

Not for a second @MoonGal. I was there when she did. I guarantee you had nothing to do with it💜😊

strange thing though is that I'm feeling a bit like I had something to do with someone else backing away. It is an uncomfortable feeling. I hope you are ok. Been thinking of you

@Castdown - Apologies for the long delay in responding my computer crashed and had to go to the shop to be repaired so I was offline for a week.

You said "so what I do want to know is do you do these things everyday, regardless of how you feel? For instance, when I'm feeling good I forget that there is anything wrong with me. That is when I can get into trouble down the track by taking on too much because I feel well. Then, when I'm down I drop everything and retreat.

I think what I actually do is more "witnessing" than thinking. So if I am travelling well, happy, light hearted (which is very rare) I can see it and I know to try to make hay while the sun shines.

These tools I use work for me. Perhaps because i was not formerly diagnosed until two years ago (and I am in my mid 50's now) all the help I have ever received is self-help or from Psychologists, not psychiatrists. My doctor back in the early '90's sent me for an assesment as to whether Psychoanalysis would be helpful for me and the specialist sent back a letter with a resounding 'NO' and that I was likely to commit suicide if I started to dig around in the trench of my life. So as needed when life has gone haywire on me - I have sought psychological help - and most of that was predicated on being a survivor of Cchildhood sexual abuse (CSA), NOT identifying that I lived with Bi Polar II or even PTSD - or OCD or anxiety - I have been untreated or under-treated and HAD to learn as an individual the things that work for me.

"do these techniques help you to stabilise somehow if you catch yourself spiralling down? Can you halt the growing anxiety or panic or whatever reaction? Can you redirect yourself and continue on as if you were spiralling up?"

Yes mostly and no some of the time, if I am alredy in a melancholic state and have been triggered by an event - say my mother saying something awful - I am chucked into the maelstrom instantly - and am just a mess in a bag of skin with jumbled thoughts. I am AWARE that I need to attend to calming down however so even though the horse has bolted I will go find her and pop her back int he stable. One of the things I try to use is the Here Now thing - It happened yesterday while I was out with my Mother she said something terrible out of the blue and I lost it instantly I stormed out of the receptiona rea and went back to my car in HUGE DISTRESS - and it took only two ciggarettes and 20 minutes to bring myself back to reasonable equanamity and go back in and attend to my mother's needs right then. (Although later that day I fell apart (crying jag, truth telling) once the immeditate need to be dealing with the world as a big person was removed and I stepped into my own home which I really needed as I am trying to make sense of a difficult and fruahgt chidlhood and mistaken views I have held about myself and my family forever).

Yes I CAN grasp the dial and catch myself spiralling down, I can observe my thinking as 'not helpful' and change the thinking so that it turns me UP - and I can go on with my day. Mostly, but in intense periods like now - I am less able to do it as effectively.

Hope that helps @Castdown.