Got Bipolar?

An Insider's Guide to Managing Life Effectively

Alfredo Zotti

• Publisher: Loving Healing Press
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781615993642
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Abnormal Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Marshal the Skills and Resources You Need to Live Your Best Life!

This book is about how to recover from bipolar disorder, or at least how to attempt to recover from it. Sufferers will be briefly introduced to new coping skills including: emotional regulation, method acting, empathy development and relaxation. In order to get the most out of this book, you'll need to develop your own strategies, based on the recommendations of this book.

"In Got Bipolar?, Zotti offers unique insights based on his personal experience of coming to terms with his own bipolar condition. Applying method acting as an emotional regulation tool mirrors the work of Marsha Linehan and her concept of 'opposite action to the emotion', a tool long recognized as effective in regulating emotions. Additionally, his focus on developing hobbies and interests in one's life also reflects Linehan's emphasis on creating a life worth living through the pursuit of meaningful activities. Zotti's book will, no doubt, provide an invaluable guide for sufferers of bipolar disorder and I highly recommend it."
--Paul Corcoran, Clinical Psychologist, Moving Forward

"If you or someone you know has been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder (BPD), Got Bipolar? is a good place to start to try to make sense of it all. Topics include self-care, medications, coping skills and responding to someone in crisis. Zotti has lived with BPD most of his life, so he has walked the talk. The messages are of hope, loving yourself throughout this process and, if you are looking for help with a loved one, recognizing that the person is more than just this illness."
--Judy Wright, mental health patient advocate

"Got Bipolar? offers a framework for the sufferer in need of skills to overcome symptoms. Zotti personally uses method acting as a coping skill to reverse mood states. Even a smile has the power to shift a low mood. He covers the basics, but it is up to the readers to increase their knowledge of emotional regulation, empathy development, relaxation techniques and other coping skills. This book is a really good primer for anyone suffering from Bipolar Disorder.

Chapter 1 - Ingredients Important for Recovery

Knowledge of Bipolar Disorder

At the top of the recipe, we put “knowledge of the disorder.” What is bipolar disorder and what causes it? These are the million-dollar questions to which professionals and writers have provided different answers, and in this sense, we have different perspectives.

Basically, there are those who feel that “there is only a brain” and the brain malfunctions in bipolar disorder. The malfunction is permanent and the only solution for this defect is medication first and therapy second. This is not my view.

Then there are those who propose that there is a mind, not just a brain. Medication is a crutch that is good at the beginning, and it is certainly good for the more severe types of bipolar, and therapy is always needed for us to learn coping mechanisms and simply to talk about our problems with a professional, friend, or family member. However, for true recovery, the sufferer has to do a lot of work, a lot of the right work. In this sense, I am on the side of those who propose that, while everything is in the brain, there are also stories and worldviews that matter a lot because stories and worldviews can influence our thinking or the brain’s functioning. Stories and worldviews take on a life of their own, even though they are abstract things, and we absorb these stories and worldviews with our brain.

While I agree that life is a product of brain functions, it is also true that the brain creates worldviews and stories. Indeed, stories are part of our life. We make sense of our life based on the story we are told, the stories we tell others, and the stories we tell ourselves. These stories are based on specific knowledge we acquire. These stories make a tremendous difference in how we see our disorder, how we cope with it, and whether we are to recover.

Yes, brain functions are important, but worldviews and the story we use to understand the world are equally important. In this sense, there is not just a brain but a mind that comprises both brain and worldviews or stories. It is much like hardware and software in the computer world. The brain is the hardware and the worldviews and stories are the software. However, the brain is not exactly like computer hardware because, unlike computer hardware, it can re-adjust itself and even heal itself. Norman Doidge explains this in his famous book The Brain That Changes Itself (2007). In this sense, the brain is plastic, and even when its hardware is broken, other parts of the brain can take over new functions. The brain is miraculous, and that is why recovery is possible. And that is also why it is important to use the best software that can help the hardware readjust itself. This perspective is the one I like best.

Helpful Books

Of course, a lot more knowledge exists about bipolar disorder than I can give you in this small volume, so you will need to read as much as you can to acquire the knowledge that can help you recover. The books that have helped my wife and me, and that I suggest you read, are only four to start with, but they are important for recovery. These are:

Capra, F. (1989). Uncommon wisdom: conversations with remarkable people. Flamingo: Hammersmith, London.

Corry, A., Tubridy, A. (2001). Going MAD? Understanding mental illness. Newleaf: Dublin.

Harris, Thomas A. (1973). I’m OK—You’re OK. Pan Books: London, Sydney, Auckland.

Zotti, A. (2014). Alfredo’s journey: An artist’s creative life with bipolar disorder. Modern History Press: Ann Arbor, MI.

You can read short passages from these books, and I suggest that you read them over and over so you can really grasp what is said. I have read them many times and continue to read them to this day. Think about what you read and see how it relates to your bipolar disorder. These books have helped me tremendously, and I would not have been able to recover without them. You can add to your personal collection of helpful books and help your knowledge—the right knowledge—to grow. These books will provide the foundations for you to build upon. They agree with my perspective that the mind is made up of hardware and software, but, unlike conventional hardware, the brain can heal itself because it is plastic. Given that traumatic experiences are often the root cause of many mental disorders, hope and recovery are real.

Nutrition

What should you eat? This is an interesting question. Before I suggest what to eat it is important to understand that food is better than medication for us. Indeed, certain foods contain ingredients that can help our depression and our elevated moods. Depending on how we feel, we have to learn to use the right foods. For example, you should not drink coffee when you are experiencing elevated moods. No caffeine, no nicotine and no alcohol. Alcohol is a depressant. It may make you feel a bit better while you are drinking and inebriated but this is followed by deep and dangerous depression that can lead to suicidal ideation.

When it comes to nutrition, I could give you a very long list about what to eat and what not to eat, but the thing is that the best way to put together the kind of nutrition that will help you is by doing research and trying to match the food that is good with the food that you tolerate or like. We are all different. What is important to know, however, is that food is medicine because that is where medicines partly come from: plants and food. Antioxidants, for example, prevent cell damage while smart carbohydrates can have a calming effect. vitamin D, selenium-rich foods and omega-3 fatty acids are all good for your bipolar, and will help tremendously. Fruits, vegetables, nuts, all fresh foods will help you feel better and cope better with your bipolar disorder. It is important to have some written material on good nutrition and consult a health professional about your choices of food, food that you think that will help your mental disorder. I cannot stress enough how important it is to eat good nutritious food and to stay away from recreational drugs, tobacco and alcohol.

Love Yourself

Loving yourself does not equate to being selfish or vain. It means to study yourself carefully and be able to understand yourself and your place in the universe.

One of the most important things to learn is that from suffering comes wisdom and the ability to find peace. If you are suffering, whether it is due to depression or anything else, it is important to know that that suffering is not in vain, but is there for a reason. It is the seed from which resilience can grow, if you learn to see the situation from the right perspective. This is a concept that the Polish psychiatrist Kazmierz Dabrowski had written extensively about after having survived two world wars and seen many atrocities. There is a thesis online, written by Battaglia (2002) about his life and I feel that you will benefit from reading it¹.

There are many other expressions of this important idea, which I agree with. Friedrich Nietzsche: “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”²

A lot of research has also been done on post-traumatic growth. Once we understand this concept, it is not difficult to entertain the idea that it is important to be willing to feel pain and understand its origins. It is important to embrace our feelings and emotions rather than to run away from then, hide them in our subconscious, or dismiss them altogether. Our emotions and feelings are important, so we need to understand them and their causation. It is good to breathe in a few minutes in our day and learn to get in touch with our feelings and emotions, to accept them, study them, and learn how not to suffer as much next time around. It is vital not to run away from our emotions and feelings and not to make others responsible for how we feel. No one can make us feel bad if we don’t want to let them. Only we can make ourselves feel bad about something.

It is important to study and learn as much as possible about yourself and psychology so you can learn how to protect yourself from pain, how to cope with difficult situations, and how to enjoy what is good or can be good in your life. We all have a higher self inside of us, a self that instinctively knows how to help ourselves. It is important to get in touch with this higher self and learn how to be in harmony with the Universe’s energy. A great reminder of this is the “Desiderata Letter” written by Max Ehermann in 1927. I think it is helpful to read this letter over and over to get its important message (see Appendix A).

False Beliefs & Distorted Thinking

Learn as much as possible about your false beliefs and distorted thinking. These are real enemies that prevent wellbeing and your ability to cope and develop resilience. However, the recovery process is a long one, with many relapses. One thing to know is that after failing a few times, you will be able to recover well if you really want to.

What is distorted thinking? Because most people with bipolar disorder have experienced trauma during childhood, their thinking has the danger of being stuck in a childish pattern when trauma is triggered. We respond to events-now in a way that may have been appropriate for events-back-then. This is distorted thinking. We may see enemies where there are none; we may misinterpret people’s true intentions, and we may see enemies, failure, and disaster everywhere we look. This is not always so, but often our distorted thinking makes us perceive things in this negative way. Of course, people have violated our trust in the past, which is why we are so suspicious that our thinking sometimes becomes distorted. It is important not to trust yourself completely when making decisions and judgments but to learn to wait, consult people who can advise you, and act only when you have considered the situation fully and when you have the advice of experienced people who can help you. This alone will avoid much pain in your life. In an email exchange, Dr. Robert Rich wrote:

Part of the reason for my healing was when I realized that my opinion of myself was the internalization of my stepfather’s opinion of me as a child. I kept abusing myself by believing his untruths about me. So, when a thought of self-hate came, I refused to buy into it. Instead, I examined it in the light of the evidence, which was things like my achievements, the opinions of people around me, how others responded to the same situation, etc.

The higher self in you knows when you are doing well, when your intentions are good, and when you productively work toward contributing to the universe’s energy. Learn to get in touch with this higher self, and when you do a good thing, pat yourself on the back and be proud of yourself. If you fail, you should never bash yourself up, but forgive yourself and tell yourself that you will do much better next time, that you will do your best to change to avoid the same problem again. Treat every failure as a learning opportunity, which it is until you will eventually not fail anymore.

Speak to your feelings and emotions, learn about them, and evaluate your actions. Don’t run away from the problems and how you feel about them. Sure, you will probably suffer more in the short term, but in the long term, you will learn to cope better and develop resilience. Don’t be afraid to suffer; get used to it, provided that the suffering is natural and not self-inflicted. We can learn a lot from suffering. In fact, that is what makes us stronger people.

Loving yourself in this way will improve everything in your life; it will make you a much better person and open up new pathways for you to succeed in anything you do.

It is not as simple as reading this book. You will have to work really hard at it, but at least this book provides some ideas about how to go about learning to love yourself. It does not matter if you have faults, because all humans do, and sometimes faults or defects can become valuable if seen from novel perspectives. Consider the parable of “The Cracked Pot“ (see Appendix A). Read it and you will understand why we are all special no matter what affliction, disabilities, or defects we may have. There is always a way for us to change and become better people, able to love ourselves and others.

¹ https://theses.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-04082002-204054/unrestricted/Dissertation.pdf

² http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2075908/So-Nietzsche-WAS-right-What-doesnt-kill-makes-stronger-scientists-find.html

Chapter 2 - Recovery

What Matters: Toward Recovery

When it comes to recovery, what matters is not how mild or severe our mental disorder is, but how we travel inside: Are we traveling toward recovery? Or are we traveling toward despair?

In my experience, as a volunteer helper for many people online, most people travel toward hopelessness and despair because they have been convinced there is no hope for their condition. This is simply wrong because there is plenty of hope for any condition, no matter how severe.

Wellbeing is achievable, so people with psychiatric disorders must become active when it comes to their behavior and symptoms and the related management of them. People become active participants in the choices, self-determination, and personal responsibilities that enable them to embark on the road toward recovery, and the expertise of consumers is acknowledged and valued.

Fighting Stigma and Myths

Stigma and myths are a barrier to these achievements, but it is important for all people to remember that stigma and myths are just that—myths, which are far removed from the truth. People with mental disorders are...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 - Ingredients Important for Recovery
• Chapter 2 - Recovery
• Chapter 3 - Method Acting and Emotional Regulation
• Chapter 4 - Three Types of Bipolar Disorder
• Chapter 5 - The Finnish Open Dialogue Method.
• Chapter 6 - The Biopsychosocial Model of Mental Health
• Appendix: Therapeutic Readings
• References
• About the Author
• Index