Speaker: 00:03
YNA is a podcast that focuses on mental health and other aspects relating to what goes on inside a person's head. We are by no means professionals in this field and only aim to make these conversations about mental health easier for the listeners. Nothing we say or talk about is professional advice unless explicitly mentioned. If you seek professional advice or experience symptoms of an actual mental health disorder, please contact a professional or visit your closest center for behavioral health. You are not alone.
Speaker 2: 00:30
Hello, hello, hello. Welcome back to You Are Not Alone episode on Bipolar Disorder. I'm joined here with Dr. Nelson, who is going to explain more because I don't have enough information myself on bipolar disorder. So someone who does have maybe has it or is going through something like this, hopefully we can shed some light on more information for you to help you out.
unknown: 00:56
Dr.
Speaker 2: 00:56
Nelson, do you want to talk to us about your credentials first to tell everybody what you do?
Speaker 1: 01:01
Sure. I'm a counselor educator and have a private practice. Um I have a doctorate in counselor education and supervision and have been in private practice serving our community in Rockford and Lake in the Hills now since like 2011. Oh wow.
Speaker 2: 01:17
So you've been in this kind of industry for a very long time. Yes. So you have you experienced clients with bipolar disorder? Yes. Okay. Could you explain to us what is bipolar disorder?
Speaker 1: 01:28
Sure. One of the easiest ways to explain bipolar disorder is that which goes up must come down. And so if something goes too high, it's probably going to correspondingly go too low. And that's the problem with bipolar disorder. So uh it's characterized by what's called a manic episode, and that is an elevated mood, and it's it's noticeably elevated. So it's not just somebody is feeling good today. Friends and family oftentimes will point out the symptoms that something's different. That mood is drastically different.
Speaker 2: 02:01
Is it because of the emotions that you're going through that you feel these really high highs and very low lows, or is it just a part of the disorder that makes you feel like you have to that you're just pushing through this high and lows?
Speaker 1: 02:17
It's it's more of a brain chemistry issue than an emotional issue, although I think sometimes it can be triggered by different things like that have an emotional impact. However, it's more of an organic kind of uh chemical imbalance in the brain that causes the elevated mood and then oftentimes a corresponding crashing mood. Do you know what an episode would look like if someone has bipolar? Yes. Now it's going to depend. There's there's two basic types of bipolar, bipolar one and bipolar two, but the symptoms are going to be similar. So someone that has uh a manic episode, and I should point out that it only takes one manic episode, one true manic episode to be diagnosed as bipolar, although the episodes can reoccur and sometimes can reoccur quite frequently, but it only takes one for a diagnosis. So typically what a client would present with is they feel very up high, elated, or irritable or grouchy. So again, this is unusually high, kind of like you might imagine someone on a stimulant like cocaine or methamphetavine. It's like noticeable. They can feel jumpy or wired, they can have a decreased need for sleep. Sometimes they won't sleep for days and yet they don't feel fatigued. They can have a loss of appetite. Sometimes they'll talk very fast about a lot of different things. They can feel like their thoughts are racing. They oftentimes feel like they can do a lot of things at once. And one of the more significant symptoms is they oftentimes do risky things or show poor judgment. So they'll make rash, kind of impulsive decisions, sometimes really big ones like blowing through their retirement in Vegas in one weekend. So they can do other things like uh thrill-seeking kind of behaviors, uh, dangerous, like unprotected sex kinds of things. And uh another symptom is grandiosity, and that's where they feel like they are unusually important, talented, or powerful. So again, it's similar to what someone might experience when they are having, uh let's say using cocaine or methamphetamine. I mean, that's kind of what the symptoms can look like.
Speaker 2: 04:25
Now, is doesn't seem like bipolar is very common in a lot of people these days. However, if I was going through bipolar disorder and maybe I'm just not taking the symptoms and my friends are not seeing enough, is it really easy to tell if someone's going if going through bipolar disorder, or does it take time and like like you said, it took one episode for you to really feel? But could you have parts of episodes? Like if I feel very adrenaline thrilling seeking and I want to go do something thrilling and then I go and blow my whole savings at one point. Now, that is a small is one of the symptoms, but that that's not all of the symptoms together. So, how do I figure out if I do really do have this disorder?
Speaker 1: 05:13
Well, we we try to clarify that you've had several of the uh manic episode symptoms. Now, I probably should clarify too, bipolar two is similar to bipolar one. Bipolar one is the more extreme version. Bipolar two has hypomanic episodes, and those are similar, but they're not quite as grandiose as intense or as a full-blown manic episode, but the symptoms are similar.
Speaker 2: 05:38
Do you see a common resemblance? I mean, as the symptoms with bipolar one and bipolar two, but is there any more of a difference so that I could understand if I do maybe have bipolar one or bipolar two?
Speaker 1: 05:50
It's it's a little bit challenging, uh particularly without sitting down and going through some of the diagnostic criteria, but the the hypomanic episodes that are associated with bipolar two, basically a person feels good or able to get things done and they can keep up with day-to-day life. So it's harder to diagnose bipolar two than bipolar one. They might not feel with bipolar two that anything's wrong. However, again, family and friends are likely to recognize the changes and point them out and express concern with uh bipolar two and hypomanic episodes, if they're not treated, the person can develop more severe mania or depression. So that's really the issue, too, is that people will oftentimes present, let's say, to their primary care physician with depression. But if the if the physician or the mental health professional, like in our case, does not screen for the manic episode, that can be tricky too, because if someone's bipolar and they're put on an antidepressant, that can actually cause a manic episode.
Speaker 2: 06:49
Okay, so the medication could give you a realization of maybe I do have this disorder if I go through a manic episode, if I were to get some sort of medication from depression or anything like that.
Speaker 1: 07:01
Well, that's a good point, Cena, too, because with bipolar disorder one and two, the best practices for treatment are going to be medication number one and then combined with counseling to manage some of the other things that go along with it. But the medication will temper the moods uh so that they don't spike as high and they don't go too low. But the problem is if someone goes and is diagnosed with depression and it's actually bipolar disorder, the medication for depression can actually trigger the symptoms and make them greater. So with um bipolar one and two, it's usually a mood stabilizer that the person would be put on in terms of a medication as opposed to depression, is typically going to be a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor that kind of helps our brain to get the feel-good chemicals to build back up.
Speaker 2: 07:48
Now, let's say I'm a friend and I have a friend who could have symptoms of bipolar disorder. Is there any signs? Because, like I have a lot of friends, I would have to say, that do crazy things and do thrilly-seeking adventures and maybe not communicate with me well enough. But how do I, how do I, as someone who has a friend that goes through bipolar disorder, how do I see that, hey, that episode is kind of this person's acting different or maybe not the same as they were? Like, is there anything I should look out for?
Speaker 1: 08:21
Probably uh, I'd say trust your gut. And so you know your friends. And if you see behaviors that are alarming, that's what we'd really look for. So, especially um adolescents and emerging adults, you know, uh the late teens and up through the 20s, that's characterized by kind of more uh thrill-seeking behaviors. That's part of adolescence, which now actually goes up through about age 28. So just some impulsive decisions could just mean that someone is uh an adolescent still. But when it gets to be extreme where you are alarmed, that's where we need to probably consult with a mental health professional to find out if your friend actually does have bipolar disorder or not.
Speaker 2: 09:07
Now, if I could give any recommendations to friends who may be going through some symptoms that don't may not have the money to go see a counselor or just don't have the uh necessary power to go and do and get the diagnosis. Do you have any recommendations to help people like maybe calm down, deep breaths, relaxing, anything?
Speaker 1: 09:29
Well, there's there's a number of things that people can do. Um uh deep diaphragmic breathing. Um, one of the best thought stopping techniques that I know, I call it sevens, is you pick a large number at random, like 832, and count backwards by sevens. It's really hard to, for example, worry or uh uh project into the future or anything when you're counting backwards by sevens. But with bipolar one in particular, it's uh it's really gonna require medication. So the person really does need to see their physician and uh be assessed to make sure that they are properly diagnosed and treated. Otherwise, the symptoms with bipolar one are not probably gonna be manageable by themselves using other means like coping skills and strategies.
Speaker 2: 10:12
So this whole thing sounds extremely terrifying. I mean, if I was somebody sitting here listening to this and I'm listening to the way that you're describing the symptoms and I'm and you know, you go into that process of self-diagnosis, where which a lot of people do, and they try to start telling themselves I have these things. However, um, is it normal to have bipolar? I mean, it's it is normal to have it, but can I live a normal life with bipolar disorder?
Speaker 1: 10:37
Absolutely. If properly treated, specifically bipolar one, again, is going to require medication, as is bipolar two, but bipolar two symptoms tend to be more manageable. But if it's not treated with medication, then bipolar two can turn into bipolar one, the more extreme version. So with medication and again, ideally combined with counseling, uh, people can live a normal, satisfying, fulfilling life without the uh impulsive decision making that can be actually very damaging, like financially, physically, uh, in different ways. So definitely bipolar disorder is manageable with medication and ideally combined with counseling. Do you how does bipolar two become bipolar one if if that manic episodes do continue? It doesn't always, but it can. So if it's if it's not treated, the brain chemistry can continue to change and it can turn into the more severe bipolar one. So if you're in doubt of whether you have bipolar one or bipolar two, then it's it's best to seek help and get properly assessed and rule it out or determine that you have it so it can be properly treated. Okay, wow.
Speaker 2: 11:46
And I'm just trying to understand this as something that people do have. Um, how do I talk to a friend who has bipolar one or bipolar two and they're diagnosed with it and they do take their medication? However, they feel as if um having a conversation becomes difficult, or how do I keep that normal friendship going? Because it is a scary disorder that something that people do go through and you lose friends and you lose people. But if someone wants to stick by your side to make sure you're okay and like keep that friendship alive, because it is it is scary when you do have a disorder, because it feels like a lot of people are looking at you like you're this animal, you're this monster who has this kind of thing wrong with them, when it's perfectly okay and normal for people who do have that kind of disorder to react to the situations they do.
Speaker 1: 12:37
Yeah, you know, the big thing is to be a friend, be there, be supportive. But again, if your friend is not compliant with medical advice, like they're not taking their medication, the symptoms are probably going to be more extreme. And that's where people can lose their jobs or lose friends or lose family because of the radical mood shifts and swings. And sometimes it's just euphoric, other times it can be really irritable, angry, um, those kinds of things. And that's not good for relationships. But um the stigma that goes along with mental health is slowly going away, uh, especially when people understand that almost all of the mental health disorders are very treatable and there's there's prescribed best practices. And what that means is that things that have been shown by the research to be effective with certain disorders and with bipolar disorders is going to be medication number one, ideally combined with counseling.
Speaker 2: 13:28
So if we're taking a step back away from um bipolar disorder and just looking at mental health and trying to understand how important it is, could you describe, after all of your years of experience, how important really it is to seek maybe help or to cry out for help or find a way to receive the kind of help that you can get for yourself? So because I feel as if there's a lot of people who lose a lot of friendships and lose a lot of things, and there's a lot of people who don't understand people that people with disorders and with mental health, they do need help and they do need someone to talk to that they're not these monsters that we try to make them seem like.
Speaker 1: 14:06
Yeah, the the big thing with mental health conditions is usually the sooner that they're diagnosed and treated, the better. So the longer I let something go, typically the worse it can get. And um one of the things that mental health professionals look at is moods that are too high or too low. But there are there are other issues that people struggle with. Good news is very diagnosable, very treatable, whether it's post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, panic. Uh, there's there's treatments that are available to help people return to, like in psychobabble terms, we call it return to a previous level of function. So like get their life back and get back on track with things. Sometimes I explain things to people, like sometimes just life kicks us once too many times in the solar plexus, and we kind of go down on the mat and we can develop some mental health conditions, but with proper treatment and coping skills and strategies and talking to somebody, um, almost everybody can recover from pretty much anything. But the sooner that they seek treatment, the better. It's it's a good idea to kind of call the fire department when there's first smoke in your house versus waiting until half the house is burning. So the sooner somebody seeks treatment, the the better.
Speaker 2: 15:22
As we come to an end and we wrap everything up, um, trying to explain to people how information and being able to discuss things that are very hard to discuss. Do you recommend one last thing to someone who feels scared and alone and doesn't feel like they can be able to discuss something like this? Do you have any recommendation to help them?
Speaker 1: 15:47
Yeah, you know, it's a good idea to find a competent mental health professional. And there's places where you can look and read people's bios and profiles like Psychology Today has a uh a large set of providers that you can kind of look at them and see who you kind of click with. But one of the things that, because I'm a um counselor educator, so I train other mental health professionals, and I constantly am telling them remember that we have the privilege of helping people get their lives back and live their lives to the fullest. And that's a huge responsibility, but it's kind of a sacred trust too. So we basically wade into people's souls and psyches and help them sort things out. And um, sometimes people tell us stuff that no other human being knows, and that's kind of a sacred trust. So, mental health professionals were bound by our ethical codes to uh confidentiality. So that's one of the nice things is we're unbiased, and people can kind of come in and they can talk through whatever they need to. And then unless there's a safety issue concern, like they're gonna do harm to self or others, then they can expect confidentiality during those sessions. And so it's really um therapeutic sometimes just to get stuff out there in that kind of a context. There's a saying in the 12-step communities that we're only as sick as our secrets. And the idea there is that when we have secrets, we carry them. There's a burden that goes along with them. So a lot of people feel better just by getting those burdens unloaded and getting the secrets out in the open with a therapist. And uh then we can apply best practices to deal with whatever issues might be involved with that.
Speaker 2: 17:27
Okay, thank you so much for talking with us. Thank you for all the information. If you're out there and you are feeling some sort of way and you need help or you just need someone to talk to, I'm glad I can share enough information for you. And I do want to let you know please, please, please always remember you are not alone in this fight. You got this, we've got your back, we're gonna get through this. Thank you again.