Mood Disorder Support

Online support for those with mood affective disorders including Major Depressive Disorder, Dysthymia, Bipolar I, II, Cyclothymia, Bipolar-NOS, Seasonal Affective Disorder, Psychotic Depression etc. This blog is a safe space that will use TW. This blog will focus on mood disorders due to there being only one admin at this present time who is diagnosed with BP II.

[uni-bi-polar]

Do you have any tips on managing hypomania? I am a full time student, moved 8 hours away from home to San Diego and I am starting to feel the symptoms because of all the stress & stimuli.

Sleep! Sleep! Sleep! And please see your therapist! 

[recovering-and-healing]

A to Z  SELF-HELP  MASTERPOST

10 more ways to cope with bipolar

25 ways to avoid self injury

A:

A little bit of everything

Acoustic

Alternatives for anger and restlessness

Anti stress breathing tips

Are you feeling okay?

B:

Big master post of masterposts

Bipolar coping skills

Bipolar self help

Breathe

Bulimia recovery

C:

Calm down

Calm down during a anxiety attack

Calm sounds

Calming manatee

Calming paintbrush

Cheer up!

Choose happy

Click here to smile

Coffee shop

Coffee shop acoustics

Coffee shop tunes

Comfort box

Conquer school

Cool game called ‘the end’ to distract you

Cope with ocd

Cope with panic attacks

Coping with autism spectrum disorder

Coping with bipolar

Coping with borderline personality disorder

Coping with depression

Coping with eating disorders

Coping with exercise addictions

Coping with PTSD

Coping with schizophrenia

Coping with social anxiety

Coping with social anxiety disorder

Coping with weight gain

D:

Daily puppy

Deal with anxiety

Dealing with bipolar without medication

Depression resources masterpost

Disorders/mental illness

Distractions and alternatives for self harm

Do nothing for two minutes

Do yoga to cheer  yourself up

Draw a stickman

E:

Eating disorder support groups

Emergency compliment

Feeling stressed?

Good feelings

Good morning

F:

Finding the right antidepressant

H:

Happy thing masterpost

Helping someone who is suicidal

Hotlines

How to break out of a zip tie

How to care for self harm cuts

How to cope with depression

How to fade and cover scars

I:

Isnt the rain beautiful

J:

Just relapsed?

L:

Learn how to mediate

List of hotlines for everyone

Living with bipolar

Living with someone who has OCD

Look at the stars!

Low on cash but wanting help?

M:

Match the colours

Maybe you want to comfort someone else

Mental health hotlines

More about ocd

More hotlines (UK)

Most relaxing tune according to scientists

Mynoise

N:

Natural depression treatments

Nature not your thing? coffee shop noise

Need a hug??

Never say these things to someone having a panic attack

Note to self

O:

Overcome your eating disorder

Overcoming loneliness

P:

Panic and anxiety

R:

Rad covers

Rainy mood

Rape escape

Really good game to get feelings out

Reasons to live

Resisting the urges

S:

Sand patterns

Self defence tips

Self injury recovery masterpost

Sleepy tunes

Soothing techniques

Sounds to fall asleep to

Soundrown

Speak to people

Spring fling

Stop biting your nails

Stop skipping breakfast

Study playlist

Stupid games to cheer you up (pointless games)

Suicide prevention

Supporting someone with PTSD tips

T:

The butterfly project

The dawn room

The quiet place

The thoughts room

Tips and tricks for dealing with anxiety

Tips to help stop cutting

U:

Understand types of anxiety

Understanding and coping with panic attacks

Understanding and managing anxiety

W:

Wanting to self harm or worse?

Ways to deal with depression/stress

Weave silk to calm down

What are eating disorders?

What cutting does to you

What is autism spectrum disorder?

What is bipolar?

What is borderline personality disorder?

What is depression?

What is generalized anxiety disorder?

What is ocd?

What is panic disorder?

What is PTSD?

What is schizophrenia?

What is social anxiety/social phobia

What to do when someone notices your cuts/scars?

Wheels on the road

When you’re sad?

Work through feelings of social isolation

Wow beautiful nature sounds!

source: Multiple internet sites

[uni-bi-polar]

how do you deal with the feeling that recovery is always temporary because bipolar is so cyclical and inevitable? it feels like every time I'm stable it's a waiting game until something goes wrong again. every time I think I've got the best med combo it stops working or my episodes get worse and the mood stabilizers don't help anymore. how do you not give up hope when life feels so precarious?

Hey anon! (Sorry for not getting to you sooner but I have personally been so busy with life!) 

Bipolar Disorder is a long-life illness that has no cure. That is the reality of having Bipolar. I think waiting around hoping for your Bipolar to go away for good is an unhealthy and unhelpful way to deal with the illness. It just sets you up for disappointment and adds so much unnecessary stress. 

It is something I am personally struggling myself but I have resolved to stop the habit of worrying about the next impending episode and just deal with what is going on in my life right now whether it is depression, mania, mixed or normalcy. 

The other issue is expecting a lot  from your medications. The truth is meds only do so much. Most of the work comes from your efforts into managing yourself with your stress, sleep, diet etc. 

My advice is to stop hoping for an ideal future that will never happen as in a ‘Bipolar-free life’ or ‘being cured of Bipolar’. What can you do instead is to make most of your time despite of the illness. Investing your energy in taking care of yourself and working out ways around the roadblocks. It is more realistic and far less stressful. And the way with the reduced stress you may end up stabilising. 

See, prolonged periods of wellness in Bipolar is realistic and attainable. It just isn’t going to happen in the way you initially envisioned it for yourself. The thing is you and I will never be neurotypical and that is okay!!! You just need to curate your life to suit you as much as you can :)

- Admin Bi Unicorn 

[uni-bi-polar]

I don’t know how to explain it but recovery just seems really hard. My brain just has a knee jerk reaction to reject positivity posts and suggestions and my mental illnesses make life difficult but I also don’t feel like babysitting my brain forever. I also don’t trust doctors/therapists lately and I haven’t seen anything good in my future in years so I’ve been planning to end it when I’m young for a pretty long time and that just seems like a better option. I gave up on myself a long time ago.

Hi anon, 

I was exactly like you. I hated positivity posts and I struggled to get the motivation I needed to recover. What helped a lot for me personally was to stop expecting huge breakthroughs in my mental health recovery. The truth is that recovery happens very, very slowly and there are no ‘’Aha!” or “Eureka!” moments. There is only slow but steady progress. You just try your best to make each day a good one. You take your time tackling all the obstacles and working out what you need to do to improve your mental health. Recovery is a daily effort. 

Only just recently did I discover that following people on social media was negatively affecting my mental health. It stressed me out for many reasons. So I simply unfollowed everyone on FB (without unfriending them) and it helped so much. Yes I know you are thinking, “So what? How does that help?” but it really does. Just finding all the small things that make your daily life extra stressful and removing them will help you feel a little more in control of your life. 

When you are mentally ill and especially when it is genetic, what is most important and what is most helpful is that you eliminate stress. Stress is the cause or what will aggravate your symptoms. I find that even if you are on meds, if you are stress levels are high enough you will still be symptomatic. 

You have to approach recovery with small goals in mind. Set out small, achievable tasks that you can handle. 

I hope this helps!

- Admin Bi-Unicorn. 

[uni-bi-polar]

Is there a “normal” length for a cyclothymia episode? Mine are usually 2-3 days long, but most of the stuff I read says that bipolar-spectrum episodes are supposed to be longer. Also, any advice dealing with episodes of low mood and high energy? It seems like those are the times when I’m the most likely to do something harmful to myself and while I’ve managed ok so far, I’m curious to know what helps other people cope. Thanks!

The DSM 5 requires hypomania to be present for four days and dysthymia needs to be present for at least two year for an official diagnosis.

However, your psychiatrist is the best judge. I have heard of people having hypomanic episodes for shorter and longer duration of the proposed criteria. My understanding is that these guidelines are placed to differentiate cases of schizophrenia (so that is why mania has to be a week long) and Borderline Personality Disorder (so volatile mood rather than hypomania) from bipolar episodes. A psychiatrist can very well agree that your 3-day hypomanic episode is genuine hypomania and not BPD. 

The best way to cope with Bipolar episodes or cyclothymic episodes is medication especially in regards to hypomania. And if you feel like you are in danger to yourself you must call the hospital. There are preventative measures like sleeping properly and managing stress but not much you can do when you are in the midst of experiencing highs or lows. It’s neurochemistry after all. 

Most Bipolar people find it hard to cope with Bipolar episodes and that depression/mania is particularly destructive to their lives. The most effective way to manage it is to instil preventative measures with the most successful being medication and therapy. 

- Bi Unicorn 

[positivedoodles]

nautilus requested by Brandy Jenner on my patreon

[Drawing of a blue nautilus saying “You deserve to take care of your health and your mental health is part of your health.” in a blue speech bubble.]

[positivedoodles]

I added a new goal to my patreon. If I reach 300$ a month, I can start posting longer comics on Saturdays. If I reach 700$ a month, I can keep posting daily for the foreseeable future *and* expand the project. I could add all kinds of cool new positive doodles tie-ins like positive astrology, positive photography, and longer series that focus on specific topics like studying, writing, healing, etc. Please don’t feel any need to donate if you can’t afford it or if it’s not your thing, but if you’d like to see more art on the internet, I promise that I’ll make as much art as possible using your donation. I currently have 4 major projects (positive doodles, a personal positive illustration project, a silly doodles and comics project, and a daily semi-autobio project. I’m not going to stop making art if I don’t make money from it. Money would just help me make more. So if you’re interested, check out my patreon. You can pledge as little as 1$ and you can remove your pledge anytime you want.

[chuckdrawsthings]

it’s okay to be shy

check out my book kickstarter!

[thelatestkate]

°˖✧*•  Shop, Patreon *•. ✧˖°`

[positivedoodles]

Facebook / Twitter / Ko-fi / Buy the book

[Drawing of a blue shark saying “Just because your best isn’t as effective as usual doesn’t mean you aren’t trying hard enough. Your best on your bad days doesn’t have to be the same as your best on your good days to be impressive. You’re trying really hard and I’m proud of you.” in a pink speech bubble.]

[chibird]

Every inch forward counts! 🐌🌱It took me a looong time to get to where I am- Chibird is over 7 years in the making! :D

Instagram | Patreon | Webtoon

[positiveemm]

Instagram / Facebook / Twitter / Ko-Fi [Drawing of a cactus in a pot with an elephant drawn on it next to a coffee mug with an elephant drawn on it above a caption that says “In the movie version of my life, I overcome my illnesses and they never affect me. In real life, I have symptoms and they do affect me. Instead of overcoming, I manage. I do my best. I adjust my efforts in function of what’s possible for me. Some days are good and some days are bad, but my life is good and worth living. That’s not less of a victory just because it’s not the kind of victory featured in movies.”]

[jazminesullivan]

Viola Davis PORTER Magazine

[gothhabiba]

[You’re born with worthiness. You don’t have to hustle for it. There’s no prerequisites to it. There’s no bartering for it. You’re born with it. As soon as you come out of the womb, you’re worth it.]

[thelatestkate]

°˖✧*•  Shop, Patreon *•. ✧˖°`

[positivedoodles]

Facebook / Twitter / Ko-fi / Buy the book

[aznaudrey]

Don’t Give Up 😤

[ladyshinga]

Human beings don’t jump from hate to love. Fiction lies to you.

This applies to self-love as well.

If you’re struggling with hating yourself, trying to push yourself to jump straight to self-love feels impossible.

So it’s okay. It’s OKAY to start small. Start trying with little things. Give yourself more slack. Shrug off some of your self-hating thoughts. Start trying to convince yourself that you’re “not so bad” or “just okay”.

Fighting self-hate with self-love is like being armed with a weapon you have ZERO training and experience in. Start small. Self-tolerance is a good start.

Start tolerating yourself. Eventually you’ll get used to that, and you can start down the path of liking yourself. Then, someday, love can happen.

Be patient. You don’t have to instantly love the person you see in the mirror, especially when you have no idea HOW. Tolerate first, love can follow someday when you’ve trained and know how.