I need some info on helping a friend in Tenerife who is "Bi-Polar"
I need to be supportive to a friend that suffers with Bi-Polar...
Not knowing anything about it and being very pragmatic about things is not helping... Is there any help out here? or does anyone else suffer with it?
I have surfed the net for info and I realise that she is not suffering too badly with it, but it still hurts me that I cannot help her...
Being a very happy person and never being even slightly depressed, I cannot give her the support she needs as my attitude is all wrong...
Any help would be great
Thanks
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re: I need some info on helping a friend who is "Bi-Polar"
Probably not much help, but your behaving 'normally' is probably a better help than trying a non professional intervention. It is very easy to be sucked in to the negative aspects of the illness, to your and your friend's detriment.
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re: I need some info on helping a friend who is "Bi-Polar"
Being there just to listen when needed and just being there for your friend, is the best thing you can offer her. She will be very frightened at the times when things are extreme and not understand how and why she feels as she does and I'm sure she won't expect you to understand either.
She is fortunate to have someone who cares and wants to help.
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re: I need some info on helping a friend who is "Bi-Polar"
Quote:
Originally Posted by DJandDeid
Probably not much help, but your behaving 'normally' is probably a better help than trying a non professional intervention. It is very easy to be sucked in to the negative aspects of the illness, to your and your friend's detriment.
DJ´s advise is spot on you should be as natural as possible.
Are you certain that your friend is Bi Polar and not suffering from clinical depression.
The only way to be certain is to seek medical help and if they are or have been diagnosed as bipolar they will more than likely have been given medication which should be taken daily. This helps to stabilise the mood swings In the two cases I am familiar with it is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain each person will have to take prescribed doses of Lithium, Anti-Psychotics and Anti-Depressants for the rest of their lives. Should they stop, the mood swings start again. So perhaps if this is the case and your friend is already on medication you can jokingly check they are taking it. Having a laugh about it is fine as long as they are on the tablets it is only a problem if they haven´t taken them in which case they can get a bit arsey. My girlfriend has a sticker on her car ´Heavily Medicated for your Safety´
So my advice would be if your friend has not been diagnosed, see a GP asap because the sooner the illness is recognised the sooner they can start living a normal life.
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re: I need some info on helping a friend who is "Bi-Polar"
I endorse what has ben said.
I have had Friends and workmates who have suffered from this Condition.
In this Life I believe You EARN Trust, and that is what they need most,
to be able to trust the Other Person.
..
Medication is important, and Yes, I think it can make them a little "Leaden" at times.
They are still the same person though, and I have never regretted trying (as a Friend) to make their lives a little easier.
So, just be You, and show an interrest.
..
Re: I need some info on helping a friend in Tenerife who is "Bi-Polar"
A close family member of mine is manic depressive - they should be on medication to stop them going too depressive or too high. I would not worry about it - it should not affect you. I would let them be who they are or they can bring you down too if you let it get to you.
Re: I need some info on helping a friend in Tenerife who is "Bi-Polar"
And remembering that getting plenty on sleep, having a good balanced diet plus plenty of exercise can help in reducing the effects when in a 'down' period.
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Re: I need some info on helping a friend in Tenerife who is "Bi-Polar"
Hope this helps Mel..it's taken from a magazine
Bipolar Disorder—Consistently Inconsistent
Clinical depression is indeed challenging. But when mania is added to the equation, the result is called bipolar disorder.% "The only consistent thing about bipolar disorder is that it is inconsistent," says a sufferer named Lucia. During mania, notes The Harvard Mental Health Letter, bipolar patients "can be unbearably intrusive and domineering, and their reckless and restless euphoria may suddenly change into irritability or rage."
Lenore recalls her experience with the exhilaration of mania. "I was absolutely brimming over with energy," she says. "Many called me a superwoman. People would say, 'I wish I could be more like you.' I often felt a great sense of power, as though I could accomplish anything. I exercised furiously. I functioned on very little sleep—two or three hours a night. Yet, I woke up with that same high energy level."
In time, however, a dark cloud began to hover over Lenore. "At the height of my euphoria," she says, "I would feel an agitation from somewhere deep inside, a motor running that could not be shut off. In a flash, my agreeable mood would become aggressive and destructive. I would verbally pounce on a family member for no apparent reason. I was furious, hateful, and completely out of control. After this frightening display, I would suddenly become exhausted, tearful, and extremely depressed. I felt worthless and wicked. On the other hand, I might switch back to my amazingly cheerful self, as if nothing had ever happened."
“Stability is a place that bipolar people visit. None of us actually live there.”—GLORIA
The erratic behavior of bipolar disorder is a source of confusion to family members. Mary, whose husband suffers from bipolar disorder, states: "It can be confusing to see my husband happy and talkative and then suddenly become despondent and withdrawn. It's a real struggle for us to accept the fact that he has little control over this."
Ironically, bipolar disorder is often just as distressful—if not more so—to the sufferer. "I envy people who have balance and stability in their lives," says a bipolar patient named Gloria. "Stability is a place that bipolar people visit. None of us actually live there."
What causes bipolar disorder? There is a genetic component—one that is stronger than that of depression. "According to some scientific studies," says the American Medical Association, "immediate family members—parents, siblings, or children—of people with bipolar depression are 8 to 18 times more likely than the close relatives of healthy people to develop the illness. In addition, having a close family member with bipolar depression may make you more vulnerable to major depression."
In contrast with depression, bipolar disorder seems to afflict men and women equally. Most often, it begins in young adulthood, but cases of bipolar disorder have been diagnosed in teenagers and even children. Nevertheless, analyzing the symptoms and arriving at the proper conclusion can be highly challenging even for a medical expert. "Bipolar disorder is the chameleon of psychiatric disorders, changing its symptom presentation from one patient to the next, and from one episode to the next even in the same patient," writes Dr. Francis Mark Mondimore of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "It is a phantom that can sneak up on its victim cloaked in the darkness of melancholy but then disappear for years at a time—only to return in the resplendent but fiery robes of mania."
.................................................. ......................................
When Medication Is Prescribed
A hand holding medication
Some feel that taking medication is a sign of weakness. But think of it this way: A diabetic must submit to a program of treatment that may include taking insulin injections. Is this a sign of failure? Hardly! It is simply a means of balancing the body's nutrients so that the sufferer can remain healthy.
It is much the same with taking medication for depressive and bipolar disorders. Although many people have been helped by a program of counseling that has enabled them to understand their illness, a caution is in order. When a chemical imbalance is involved, the illness cannot be simply reasoned away with logic. Steven, a bipolar patient, relates: "The medical professional who treated me illustrated it this way: You can give a person all the driving lessons in the world, but if you give that person a car with no steering wheel or brakes, then those lessons won't do much good. In the same way, giving only cognitive counseling to a depressed person may not attain the desired results. Balancing the brain's chemistry is a valuable first step."
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Re: I need some info on helping a friend in Tenerife who is "Bi-Polar"
Quote:
Originally Posted by singingmary
Hope this helps Mel..it's taken from a magazine
Bipolar Disorder—Consistently Inconsistent
Clinical depression is indeed challenging. But when mania is added to the equation, the result is called bipolar disorder.% "The only consistent thing about bipolar disorder is that it is inconsistent," says a sufferer named Lucia. During mania, notes The Harvard Mental Health Letter, bipolar patients "can be unbearably intrusive and domineering, and their reckless and restless euphoria may suddenly change into irritability or rage."
Lenore recalls her experience with the exhilaration of mania. "I was absolutely brimming over with energy," she says. "Many called me a superwoman. People would say, 'I wish I could be more like you.' I often felt a great sense of power, as though I could accomplish anything. I exercised furiously. I functioned on very little sleep—two or three hours a night. Yet, I woke up with that same high energy level."
In time, however, a dark cloud began to hover over Lenore. "At the height of my euphoria," she says, "I would feel an agitation from somewhere deep inside, a motor running that could not be shut off. In a flash, my agreeable mood would become aggressive and destructive. I would verbally pounce on a family member for no apparent reason. I was furious, hateful, and completely out of control. After this frightening display, I would suddenly become exhausted, tearful, and extremely depressed. I felt worthless and wicked. On the other hand, I might switch back to my amazingly cheerful self, as if nothing had ever happened."
“Stability is a place that bipolar people visit. None of us actually live there.”—GLORIA
The erratic behavior of bipolar disorder is a source of confusion to family members. Mary, whose husband suffers from bipolar disorder, states: "It can be confusing to see my husband happy and talkative and then suddenly become despondent and withdrawn. It's a real struggle for us to accept the fact that he has little control over this."
Ironically, bipolar disorder is often just as distressful—if not more so—to the sufferer. "I envy people who have balance and stability in their lives," says a bipolar patient named Gloria. "Stability is a place that bipolar people visit. None of us actually live there."
What causes bipolar disorder? There is a genetic component—one that is stronger than that of depression. "According to some scientific studies," says the American Medical Association, "immediate family members—parents, siblings, or children—of people with bipolar depression are 8 to 18 times more likely than the close relatives of healthy people to develop the illness. In addition, having a close family member with bipolar depression may make you more vulnerable to major depression."
In contrast with depression, bipolar disorder seems to afflict men and women equally. Most often, it begins in young adulthood, but cases of bipolar disorder have been diagnosed in teenagers and even children. Nevertheless, analyzing the symptoms and arriving at the proper conclusion can be highly challenging even for a medical expert. "Bipolar disorder is the chameleon of psychiatric disorders, changing its symptom presentation from one patient to the next, and from one episode to the next even in the same patient," writes Dr. Francis Mark Mondimore of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "It is a phantom that can sneak up on its victim cloaked in the darkness of melancholy but then disappear for years at a time—only to return in the resplendent but fiery robes of mania."
.................................................. ......................................
When Medication Is Prescribed
A hand holding medication
Some feel that taking medication is a sign of weakness. But think of it this way: A diabetic must submit to a program of treatment that may include taking insulin injections. Is this a sign of failure? Hardly! It is simply a means of balancing the body's nutrients so that the sufferer can remain healthy.
It is much the same with taking medication for depressive and bipolar disorders. Although many people have been helped by a program of counseling that has enabled them to understand their illness, a caution is in order. When a chemical imbalance is involved, the illness cannot be simply reasoned away with logic. Steven, a bipolar patient, relates: "The medical professional who treated me illustrated it this way: You can give a person all the driving lessons in the world, but if you give that person a car with no steering wheel or brakes, then those lessons won't do much good. In the same way, giving only cognitive counseling to a depressed person may not attain the desired results. Balancing the brain's chemistry is a valuable first step."
Yes there is help out there for a lot of people, but unfortunately there are also many people who do not make it. Unlike a broken leg, nobody can see it and so there are many people who, through ignorance of the illness, have very little time for sufferers of either illness.
Once a sufferer is on medication and councelling, the best thing that friends can do is just be there to listen and be understanding, when needed, (even though it is impossible to really understand what the sufferer is going through). It is also worth the friend keeping an eye on the sufferer to make sure they are not getting worse as no-one "expert" knows exactly how to treat this awful condition and often medication prescribed can make people worse. It is often trial and error.
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Re: I need some info on helping a friend in Tenerife who is "Bi-Polar"
Quote:
Originally Posted by goforgold
Yes there is help out there for a lot of people, but unfortunately there are also many people who do not make it. Unlike a broken leg, nobody can see it and so there are many people who, through ignorance of the illness, have very little time for sufferers of either illness.
Once a sufferer is on medication and councelling the best thing that friends can do is just be there to listen and be understanding, when needed, (even though it is impossible to really understand what the sufferer is going through). It is also worth the friend keeping an eye on the sufferer to make sure they are not getting worse as no-one "expert" knows exactly how to treat this awful condition and often medication prescribed can make people worse. It is often trial and error.
Hit the Nail on the Head there!!!!!
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