Bipolar depression often announces itself early. Here are firsthand strategies to stop it before it takes hold.
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Living with bipolar disorder is difficult, and one of the things that is so difficult about it is depression.
A lot of people who don’t have depression are under the impression that you are either depressed — or not. In actuality, it is a spectrum.
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We can often see bipolar depression coming. And when we start to see it rear its ugly head, we ask ourselves: What can we do to avoid it? How can we beat down depression?
3 Ways to Get a Hold on Depression Before It Takes Hold of You
If you feel depression creeping up, I have some advice to help you take control and stop it in its tracks.
1. Avoid Isolating With Your Depression — Instead, Call or See Someone
The first thing is, don’t isolate. We all have a tendency, when feeling depressed, to lie on the couch in the dark, watch Netflix all night, and eat potato chips. That is my favorite depression thing to do — but it plays right into depression’s hands.
I’m basically surrendering to depression when I do this. My best advice is to get out into the world. As difficult as it may sound, don’t ignore your friends and family. Now is the time to call them up. Now is the time to go for a walk around the neighborhood. Now is the time to go to the mall or even just go to a coffee shop and drink a cup of coffee and people-watch.
All of these things will help lift your spirits.
2. Keep Things in Perspective and Don’t Catastrophize or Make Assumptions
The next thing I have a tendency to do when I’m depressed is catastrophize. For example, if you get into a fight with your mother, that just means you got into a fight with your mother. It doesn’t mean that your mother doesn’t love you anymore.
When I get very depressed, I start to feel like everything is just significantly bigger than it is. Now is a very important time to pay attention to facts and not make assumptions.
3. Stick to Routines When It Comes to Taking Medication, Eating, Working, Exercising, and Sleeping
Next, you need to pay attention to your routines: sleep hygiene, eating, your schedule, medication, and so on. Things like this are very important to staying well — and they are 10 times as important when depression is cropping up.
So now is the perfect time to make sure that you are going to bed and getting up on time, and keeping up with your regular schedule.
Working Together to Head Off Depression Before It Overcomes You
Let’s go ahead and assign some homework: In the comment section below, write three things you can do when you feel a depressive episode coming on. That way, you can share it with everybody else.
RELATED: Help for Climbing Out of Bipolar Depression
Then, read through the list and find three things you can do. Put them on a sheet of paper and post them on your door. That way, when you leave the house, and you are starting to feel depressed, you can figure out something to do to try and pull yourself out of it.
UPDATED: Originally posted May 18, 2016