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2 years ago, I was diagnosed by one psychiatrist with a “mood disorder” and by another psychiatrist with a “smidge of bipolar disorder” (exact quote).
I tried out a few medications and although I saw some improvements, I did not feel myself. I also do not like the concept of living the rest of my life on medication. After weening off of medication, I felt back to my old myself. Even while on medication, the results were not worth the side-effects.
Occasionally, I get triggered into depression, irritability, and/or hypomania. I tend to make poor choices while this way – often with irreparable damage to my personal life, both psychologically and spiritually. I feel stuck.
Do you have any advice on how to deal with living with a mood disorder – in general and as someone who is trying to be a religious Jew?
What’s super important to remember is that you’re not alone when dealing with mood disorders. I think you made the right choice in reaching out because everyone needs a support base. Some sort of anchor to keep your mindset where it needs to be. Because the alternative is living with this disorder alone, which is worse (I think) than living on/with meds.
3 years ago, i was diagnosed with anxiety and i was put on medicine for it because it was so crippling. Having weened myself off the medicine, thank gd, ive recently been trying to figure out what caused my anxiety and how i was able to get rid of it and stop taking medication. i have been a dancer my whole life and one thing i noticed was that at that time, i had stopped dancing. i was losing my sense of self. now dance is something that is part of my daily life. i am always taking classes, always trying to get better and i personally have never felt better. all of tis combined, has increased my faith in hashem and made me happy to be a Jew. dance gives me something to be thankful for. i think the best thing one can do is focus on something that makes him happy and be thankful for that specific thing from hashem. then one can realize how much there is to be thankful for and everything will fall into place
I’m so glad you brought this up bc I really wanted to have a thread on borderline (I’m not sure if that’s what you’re dealing with) but I never had the courage to bring it up. I would say to get to know your triggers you. Try to recognize when you get triggered and how best you can cope. One of the DBT skills that help me is the acronym called IMPROVE the moment. ‘V’ meaning Vacation. Also, when I feel that my moods are up and down, ideally i should use the DBT STOP skill and figure out how best to proceed mindfully. These are just some ideas. Feel free to ask any questions about them.
In response to Chavy's post #4982:
yes i completely agree. I think that is so important
I’m so glad you brought this up bc I really wanted to have a thread on borderline (I’m not sure if that’s what you’re dealing with) but I never had the courage to bring it up. I would say to get to know your triggers you. Try to recognize when you get triggered and how best you can cope. One of the DBT skills that help me is the acronym called IMPROVE the moment. ‘V’ meaning Vacation. Also, when I feel that my moods are up and down, ideally i should use the DBT STOP skill and figure out how best to proceed mindfully. These are just some ideas. Feel free to ask any questions about them.
@chavy Would love for you to expound on these skills!I think chavy hit a main point = identifying your triggers.
To expound on that – Try not to confuse triggers with symptoms or effects.
For instance the depression, irritability, mania are the effects or symptoms you’re trying to reduce. To do so you want to channel back as far as you can to what triggered any of these feeling states.
I would suggest choosing one most frequent negative symptom you want to reduce, track it and its reverse by keeping a running log for a month and see what happens.
Example:
Depression: when (date+time), why (channel back trigger), how bad (scale 1-10)
Hopefulness: when (date and time), why (channel back trigger), how good (scale 1-10)
Doing this will help you will learn a lot about yourself and that symptom. I don’t suggest it replacing psychotherapy and psychiatry but it can be used as a personal asset as you try to figure this out.
Thanks @Fay! There’s so much to these skills and I’d be more than happy to expound on them. If anyone has any specific questions, I’d love to elaborate more.
In response to Fay Brezel's post #4997:
love this!
This is how I do it. I’m bipolar 1. First off I take my medication religiously. I can’t live without it. I ought to have a therapist but I don’t. I’m trying to get one, I promise. Instead I work the steps. There are actually 12 step programs designed for psychiatric illnesses like emotions anonymous. I personally believe the 12 steps presents a solution instead of dealing with a problem so therefore it really isn’t essential what the problem is. Otherwise, I live a pretty normal life, without itembracing any limitations. For me having all the stressors of a normal life, house, kid, wife is dicey sometimes but the alternative is nowhere for me.
Hi Chavy,
One of the DBT skills to help reduce emotional vulnerability is called “ PLEASE” which stands for 1- PhysicaL activity 2- balance Eating 3- mood Altering substances 4- balance Sleep 5- and get Exercise.
This may be a big help in stabilization efforts.
i do recommend following Doctors advice regarding medication. You can always explore other ideas like being very consistent with daily exercise which then acts like an antidepressant and having a healthy diet. However, with bipolar disorder, you need to be careful. And if you have a family, you really need to be extra careful about taking responsibility for your mental health because there are children depending on your stability.
gelly
Hi again, somehow with A, I missed the following “ avoid mood altering substances.
Part of living a frum lifestyle with family is really doing all your hishtadlus to be stable mentally. It would definitely be helpful to find a frum therapist that understands frum lifestyle to help manage all the pieces of living a frum lifestyle.
best of luck,
gelly
Hi, I just wanted to say that I have been going through a rough journey. I was on medication, I went to a socialworker since 8th grade. Still seeing her but for the first time starting to see her every 3 weeks. This past summer I was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder which was so hard for me to hear but now that I am in dbt It’s literally dream come true. The feelings I have after finishing a session are like amazing.
We are all going through rough times now but we will get through it??
Hi Anonymous,
wow! You really have persevered! I’m so glad you found DBT and that it is helpful.
Gelly Asovski, LCSW-R RPT-S
Thank you so much for the support!
I was wondering if there is any whatsapp or other chats with Okclarity?
The only clear diagnosis I ever got was bipolar 1. I suffer from other symptoms but they have been described as symptoms of bipolar. I’m not exactly sure how and why this matters.
The most disturbing aspect of my condition for me has been the way I behave and react. Ordinarily I guess, this would be considered a personality disorder. Whatever. I see and hear now that this is treated with DBT.
Any thoughts?
