Thursday, February 18, 2010
Very Good Explaination with Videos
For those not familiar with Bipolar disorder, I have included a link to a very good website. There are clear explainations and real life people giving their testimonies regarding living with Bipolar Disorder.
Don't let this information scare you. You can't manage something you don't recognize. If ever there was something to face head-on, this is it.
Pay close attention to Kay Jamieson's admonition regrding regular sleep and finding activities that bring joy. Ms Jamieson is a psychiatrist who suffers Bipolar Disorder, to the point of psychosis. She has s book, which I highly recommend to anyone who is either newly diagnosed, or who thinks you can cure Bipolar Disorder. The book is "An Unquiet Mind" You will never be the same after you read it. I promise.
Don't let this information scare you. You can't manage something you don't recognize. If ever there was something to face head-on, this is it.
Pay close attention to Kay Jamieson's admonition regrding regular sleep and finding activities that bring joy. Ms Jamieson is a psychiatrist who suffers Bipolar Disorder, to the point of psychosis. She has s book, which I highly recommend to anyone who is either newly diagnosed, or who thinks you can cure Bipolar Disorder. The book is "An Unquiet Mind" You will never be the same after you read it. I promise.
Sad thing
I'm back, but I don't have a lot of time to get all my ideas down, so this will be (maybe) shorter than the others. I have TONS of papers to write - the work is done but in the nursing world; until it's documented, IT NEVER HAPPENED. So I do need to get those written...
I have been manic for almost 2 weeks now. I have not needed to eat or sleep, which has been helpful since I have alot of extraneious things to get done, and I didn't see anyone handing out 40 hour days. My weight is down, and my mood is 'high.' Yesterday I expereinced a sort of mixed episode in that I was 'up' but also quite 'down'. It was pretty scary, as I haven't experienced anything like that in a very long time (like years)
I want to share something that I think is so sad. When I was at clinical on Wednesday at an area mental illness facility, I asked the same question I like to ask at every in-patient facility I visit or observe - how often do these folks have family visit? The numbers were sad. Often these patients have NO VISITORS. Not even Momma. I am a strong proponent of families being involved in therapies of all sorts. Without your family, where are you anyway? My hert was broken to see the graves sites of hundreds of individuals who had passed while under the care of the program.. their headstones a brick sized peice of concrete with a number on it. No name. No birth or death date. Not evcen the little 'dash' between the dates that represents their short lives on earth. Nothing. These people were wards of the state. Their families either didn't know where they were or they didn't care. These folks have no graveside service, no flowers, no tears. I was moved to tears for them, but it was too late. They had already been abandoned. Why?
I can't answer for every family who ever had a mentally ill person in it, but I can share my observations. Mentally ill people cause pain in their families. They are often the source of financial, social, and health problems. They are sometimes hard to 'control' and are embarrassing. They can be dangerous. No one asked to have a mentally ill person in their family! Having a mentally ill person in your family meant there could very well be something wrong with those who appeared mentally 'well.' And who wants to face that reality? Know what I say to these reasons for abandonment?
PHOOEY!
There are so many resources available now to help people and thier families not only understand, but learn to live with the illnessse. True, there are differing levels of function. Some mentally ill people are at times a danger to themselves or others. At times of MI flare-ups, this is when the patient needs thier family THE MOST! Families are the patients' support, their strength, an extension of their doctor's eyes and ears, and the nurses' loving kindness. Families are supposed to represent all that is good in teh world, and when a mentally ill person sees they have been left to die alone... well.. how would YOU feel? If ou went into the hospital with pneumonia and no one called or visited, and all memories of you were stricken from teh environment - would that help you heal? Would you look forward to improving and going back to a place you weren't welcome, to people who don;t want you around? You would feel better off lying in the hospital bed. You can pretend your healthcare providers are your family. You can navigate the long road to recovery by yourself, but in your present physical - and yes I said PHYSICAL - state, your brain function doesn't really comprehend that there's even a problem. Who will care for you? Why try? Not much reason to live, sounds to me. Very very sad.
Try walking up to someone you know and saying "did you know I suffer from a mental illness?" and have them look at you like you have the plague, and immediately deny it for you. Like you haven't already tried THAT before. Like if THEY say you don't have it this one time, it will be more effective in curing your condition than the thousands of times you personally had already said those very words, hoping for the same result. Now you are danaged goods, and your illness becomes the pink elephant in the room. Always aware of its presence, but never addressed. How is that helpful?
Families -please do this for your loved one who has been disgnosed with a mental illness:
Accept the fact they have an illness. How would you react if you heard they had diabetes or high
blood pressure?
Be willing to be educated on the illness. There is great fear in mystery, so read up, talk to your
doctor - anything! Your loved one can probablky answer some questions for you. Showing you
care enough to investigate is a huge boost to the patient. It wil estab;ish a layer of trust that
wouldn't otherwise be there. How can you help htem work through the hard times when you
don't know anything about it?
Participate in the care without trying to take control of the illness. It is not yours to control. You may not always be around when your loved one faces a crisis. Let the patient learn to deal with their
illness in a way (an adaptive , healthy way!) that suits them. Group therapy may be more
beneficial to one where the other needs more personal space and less stimulation. Listen to your
family member.. they will know what they need, and will tell you if you ask. The patient and
family must know the enemy before waging battle against it!
Do not minimize the impact the illness has had on relationships in the past, but also don't dwell on it.
Sometimes (oftentimes) people with mental illnesses do things they don't understand, for reasons
they don't understand, and end up hurting the people they love the most. Mentally ill people aren't
dumb - they know they have caused pain. By denying them the opportunity to apologize, or
talk about it, you are saying one of these things: 1) No apologies are good enough so don't even
start because we know you will hurt us again anyway, or 2) You hurt me so bad that I can't even
talk about it or accept that you are sorry. and 3) You're using your diagnosis as a cop-out or
excuse, and it's not going to work. I believe you hurt us on purpose.
These are just a few things a person can do when confronted withthe stark reality that a loved one has been diagnosed with a mental illness.
And please please please don't abandon them when they need you most!
I have been manic for almost 2 weeks now. I have not needed to eat or sleep, which has been helpful since I have alot of extraneious things to get done, and I didn't see anyone handing out 40 hour days. My weight is down, and my mood is 'high.' Yesterday I expereinced a sort of mixed episode in that I was 'up' but also quite 'down'. It was pretty scary, as I haven't experienced anything like that in a very long time (like years)
I want to share something that I think is so sad. When I was at clinical on Wednesday at an area mental illness facility, I asked the same question I like to ask at every in-patient facility I visit or observe - how often do these folks have family visit? The numbers were sad. Often these patients have NO VISITORS. Not even Momma. I am a strong proponent of families being involved in therapies of all sorts. Without your family, where are you anyway? My hert was broken to see the graves sites of hundreds of individuals who had passed while under the care of the program.. their headstones a brick sized peice of concrete with a number on it. No name. No birth or death date. Not evcen the little 'dash' between the dates that represents their short lives on earth. Nothing. These people were wards of the state. Their families either didn't know where they were or they didn't care. These folks have no graveside service, no flowers, no tears. I was moved to tears for them, but it was too late. They had already been abandoned. Why?
I can't answer for every family who ever had a mentally ill person in it, but I can share my observations. Mentally ill people cause pain in their families. They are often the source of financial, social, and health problems. They are sometimes hard to 'control' and are embarrassing. They can be dangerous. No one asked to have a mentally ill person in their family! Having a mentally ill person in your family meant there could very well be something wrong with those who appeared mentally 'well.' And who wants to face that reality? Know what I say to these reasons for abandonment?
PHOOEY!
There are so many resources available now to help people and thier families not only understand, but learn to live with the illnessse. True, there are differing levels of function. Some mentally ill people are at times a danger to themselves or others. At times of MI flare-ups, this is when the patient needs thier family THE MOST! Families are the patients' support, their strength, an extension of their doctor's eyes and ears, and the nurses' loving kindness. Families are supposed to represent all that is good in teh world, and when a mentally ill person sees they have been left to die alone... well.. how would YOU feel? If ou went into the hospital with pneumonia and no one called or visited, and all memories of you were stricken from teh environment - would that help you heal? Would you look forward to improving and going back to a place you weren't welcome, to people who don;t want you around? You would feel better off lying in the hospital bed. You can pretend your healthcare providers are your family. You can navigate the long road to recovery by yourself, but in your present physical - and yes I said PHYSICAL - state, your brain function doesn't really comprehend that there's even a problem. Who will care for you? Why try? Not much reason to live, sounds to me. Very very sad.
Try walking up to someone you know and saying "did you know I suffer from a mental illness?" and have them look at you like you have the plague, and immediately deny it for you. Like you haven't already tried THAT before. Like if THEY say you don't have it this one time, it will be more effective in curing your condition than the thousands of times you personally had already said those very words, hoping for the same result. Now you are danaged goods, and your illness becomes the pink elephant in the room. Always aware of its presence, but never addressed. How is that helpful?
Families -please do this for your loved one who has been disgnosed with a mental illness:
Accept the fact they have an illness. How would you react if you heard they had diabetes or high
blood pressure?
Be willing to be educated on the illness. There is great fear in mystery, so read up, talk to your
doctor - anything! Your loved one can probablky answer some questions for you. Showing you
care enough to investigate is a huge boost to the patient. It wil estab;ish a layer of trust that
wouldn't otherwise be there. How can you help htem work through the hard times when you
don't know anything about it?
Participate in the care without trying to take control of the illness. It is not yours to control. You may not always be around when your loved one faces a crisis. Let the patient learn to deal with their
illness in a way (an adaptive , healthy way!) that suits them. Group therapy may be more
beneficial to one where the other needs more personal space and less stimulation. Listen to your
family member.. they will know what they need, and will tell you if you ask. The patient and
family must know the enemy before waging battle against it!
Do not minimize the impact the illness has had on relationships in the past, but also don't dwell on it.
Sometimes (oftentimes) people with mental illnesses do things they don't understand, for reasons
they don't understand, and end up hurting the people they love the most. Mentally ill people aren't
dumb - they know they have caused pain. By denying them the opportunity to apologize, or
talk about it, you are saying one of these things: 1) No apologies are good enough so don't even
start because we know you will hurt us again anyway, or 2) You hurt me so bad that I can't even
talk about it or accept that you are sorry. and 3) You're using your diagnosis as a cop-out or
excuse, and it's not going to work. I believe you hurt us on purpose.
These are just a few things a person can do when confronted withthe stark reality that a loved one has been diagnosed with a mental illness.
And please please please don't abandon them when they need you most!
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