Please note: This is a sneak peek Bipolar rules – which means it's just a draft. This is not the final version.
For a very long time, I thought I could beat bipolar disorder. I thought that if bipolar disorder was in my head, my mind could defeat it. I thought that if I just read the right book, learned the right coping skills, or understood the right philosophy, I could think of bipolar disorder. I assumed I was “smarter” than any disease.
This is not an unusual idea. It makes sense for people to think so. There's so much pop psychology that you can just “flip the brow”. There are many lifestyle “cures” for mental illness (especially depression). We have so many loved ones who tell us all we have to do is “pull our socks up” and everything will be fine.
And it doesn't help that some people claim to do just that. It is not helpful to have people claiming to “cure” their mental illness simply by using a certain philosophy, religion, or thought process. Unfortunately, there are people out there who use a very real desire to do this and tell you they can teach you how to do it – for a “very reasonable” price, of course.
Not to mention that mental illness causes severe pain and people look for any way to alleviate that pain. The idea that a New Age guru can do this with cabbage and positive thinking sounds very appealing compared to a life on psychotropic drugs. It's understandable that people get married to the idea that they can leave bipolar disorder behind because they want to, and the people around them confirm that it's possible.
I also think this is another example of bipolar disorder lying to us. It tells us that all we need is our own mind on purpose. Bipolar disorder is like a self-propagating organism—it wants to survive, thrive, and even reproduce. If you only use your mind to deal with bipolar disorder, it will really spread.
It's all part of the reason people go off or stay off drugs—whether they say it in those words or not. People mistakenly think that bipolar disorder is in their head and therefore their head can fix it.
But there's a huge flaw in that thinking that people, including my former self, fail to recognize – yes, bipolar disorder. does inside your head, but the part inside your head is yours the brain. It lives in the neurons that make up the organ that keeps you alive. You can't rewire your brain for healthy thinking like you can rewire your pancreas for healthy insulin production. Psychology, which we can influence, plays a role in bipolar disorder; it's actually critical, but I've found that the biological aspects of bipolar disorder need to be addressed before psychology has a chance.
What everything from bad psychology to New Age quackery doesn't tell you is that bipolar disorder is (partially and importantly) biological in nature. The brains of people with bipolar disorder are not the same as those of the average person.1,2 It does not make sense to ask a diseased brain to fix its disease. It's like using a broken-down car to drive it to a mechanic, or asking a surgeon to operate on broken hands (and on yourself). Thinking about bipolar disorder only makes sense if you don't understand the neurological nature of the illness. Unfortunately, this idea can stubbornly take root in the sick brain. (Remember that the anosognosia (lack of clinical understanding) found in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia prevents people from even recognizing that they are ill.)
In the end, it turns out to be quite simple – until you begin to address the biological issues behind bipolar disorder, you cannot hope to deal with it psychologically effectively. Yes, this almost always means taking medication. If you are in an acute episode of bipolar disorder, there are several other options that you need to understand and embrace.
But take heart: even if you can't think of bipolar disorder, you can against think bipolar disorder around bipolar disorder and think under bipolar disorder, when applied to biology. This means that things like therapy are really, really important. It's really important to learn about different coping skills that incorporate how you think and act.
If you're wondering if you can beat bipolar disorder, know that you're not alone. I know I put pressure on myself to do it, and I know how much I beat myself up for not being able to do it. If you are in that situation now, I understand. But please stop beating yourself up for not being able to do the impossible. I now release you from that burden. I tell you, you need to work with your biology with the help of your psychology. Your brain needs help on a biological level just like any other diseased organ.
So, while you may not be able to think about bipolar disorder, you can fight it and even beat it at times.
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Sources
- Technology networks. (2017, May 2). MRI study of bipolar patients reveals structural differences. Neuroscience from Technology Networks. https://www.technologynetworks.com/neuroscience/news/mri-study-of-bipolar-sufferers-reveals-structural-differences-288248
- University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. (2017, January 24). The area of the brain associated with bipolar disorder has been pinpointed. ScienceDaily. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170124144000.htm
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