Those of us with bipolar I or II cope with both extremes: (hypo)mania and depression. The depressive "pole" gets most of the attention, which is quite understandable. Given a choice between the two, almost no one would prefer being depressed over being "elevated." (Note that bipolar depression is a different animal than unipolar depression, But this is a discussion for another time.) So how do we deal with (hypo)mania?
The first step is learning to recognize it. It can be hard to tell when one is (hypo)manic, because it feels so good. I'm bipolar II, so let me share my experiences of hypomania. First of all, I feel great. In fact, I often feel more than great. This is called euphoria. I can feel a decreased need to sleep.. I am over-talkative in this phase. (Whereas I am under-talkative when depressed.) I tend to dominate conversations. I can over-promise (and then under-deliver when I cycle down). My thinking becomes unrealistically "grandiose." Whereas bipolar I folks can experience such a "high" that they have a break (a psychotic break) with reality, I experience distorted (way too optimistic) thinking and decision-making, that I often later regret. Those with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) do not have the monopoly on obsession. Once I lock on to some pleasurable activity/decision, I tend to drill down into it and turn on the "spin cycle." I refer to this as hyper-hedonism. Also, when "up," I can be quite the runaway spendthrift. How good it feels to shop (usually online) and spend impulsively. And Amazon Prime doesn't help. Finally, and surprisingly, I can be impatient and irritable with others. For this and all the reasons above, my spouse dreads my "ups." I hate my "downs."
There, I have bared my soul. So, how can we cope with (hypo)mania? I am by no means an expert, but here are things that work for me. Sleep is huge! In spite of my decreased need for it, I force myself to maintain my sleep regimen at all costs. When my "tell" meter goes off (e.g., with "up" thoughts and feelings racing around in my brain) I do a deep breathing exercise. I take a deep breath and place my hands, palms down, at forehead level. As I slowly breathe out, I push down the air in front of me toward my waist, as if I am pushing the mania out of my mind/body. I can often feel my heart rate going down as I repeat this exercise 2-3 times. Regarding my grandiose thinking or decision-making, I force myself to "sleep on it"--no pulling the trigger on decisions for 24 hours. Then I ask myself to imagine the consequences of each decision, which often pulls me back from the brink. I imagine what under-delivering would look like when tempted to over-promise. With regard to conversation, I conscientiously force myself to speak less and listen more. With regard to impulse spending, I put a limit on the level I can spend (in my case $50), above which I have to obtain my spouse's permission to make the purchase. And I do a lot of confession and asking forgiveness from my spouse, my family, and my friends, when my hypomanic irritability gets the most of me.
So there you have it. Hopefully, there is a tidbit of good that you can use. Of everything, the best thing we can do is ask for God's help. An interesting Bible verse is Romans 12:3, where Paul says, "For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment." I know the immediate context is with regard to spiritual gifts. But let's appropriate this verse, and do our best to not think "high," but to think euthymically. Euthymia is the blessed "normal" between "up" and "down." May God bless us on this endeavor.
Blessings!
The Christian Bipole
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