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everyone only my to hear and I am with
my friend Tristan Miller
Tristan welcome back we just did an
episode about the top myths about
bipolar disorder and I in wanted to
invite you back here to do an episode
about how to cope with bipolar disorder
sure yeah
the first one is sobriety man this is
one that I know a lot of people who have
bipolar disorder myself included have
struggled with I've been about two years
sober which is and I've been happier and
healthier for it and it was a real pain
to start yeah but it is one of those
things I like when you're putting
alcohol and specifically if you're
putting street drugs in your system to
try and self-medicate it's it's it's not
so good it's just like you're just gonna
exacerbate every pre-existing condition
that you have and so that's if you're
not sober
that's where I switch snared for a lot
of people when they're moving faster
yeah they might want to slow down and
they might use drugs for that or when
they're down or slower they might want
to move fast so it's like trying to do
that stuff yourself well yeah the other
thing I want to add to that is gambling
a lot of people might not think about
that when you are putting your emotions
in the hands of chance yeah which is
what happens when you gamble when you
have bipolar disorder it is um it is a
really risky thing that makes sense yeah
and for me I know when I was heavily
drinking it was I just want a
consistency and I knew like I was gonna
feel terrible in the morning but at
least I knew how I was gonna feel we had
control yeah number one no one has
control you have to accept that yeah
well yeah it's chaos total yeah chaos
theory you can get that with
professional help and also which is the
second thing I have which is go find a
therapist - therapist that specializes
in bipolar disorder if you can and
really decide to work with that person
for your betterment that brings me to my
first one which is understand the pad
of your bipolar disorder really
understand it inside and out what are
the kind of things that might make you
more vulnerable to going fast getting to
hypomania or manic episode what are
things I might make you more vulnerable
for depression sleep is a big one that a
lot of people I work with discover so
the more you know your own pattern of
bipolar the more you can set yourself up
for success and also deal with
unexpected problems when they come up
one of the ones that I have is
maintaining a consistent sleep schedule
also know how your symptoms manifest
themselves yes/no like oh I'm doing this
that means I'm anxious if I'm angry that
might mean I'm UPS yeah and you just got
to do checks and balances totally all
the time sometimes people like like to
write things down in a notebook maybe
there's an app you like fine whatever
way of figuring that stuff out works for
you and then keep at it there's a bunch
of really good mood chart apps then
there's one I can't remember the name of
it but if you just look at bipolar
disorder mood chart you can just kind of
stuff the next one I have is telling
your friends and like you have building
a community we have the same thing of
like spoilers tryst I'm sorry but hey
hey it's cool its spoilers my method on
making sure that your friends know
what's going on with you yeah and
communicating Maria Bamford talks about
like if I'm talking so much and I've
been really great a bunch of really good
ideas called the purple van because I
got to go to doggy daycare so like just
so you know so you're aware and that's
actually how she caught her the fact
that she was she has bipolar disorder
because she had a hypomanic episode for
the first time and so her friends were
like hey mm-hmm you're not doing well
you should see somebody sometimes you
just want to talk to someone and not
have to explain what it feels like yeah
so that might mean like a support group
or that might mean connecting with Nami
and finding other folks who also have
bipolar disorder
and these people you don't have to like
like explain what it is and like all
that and they get it so I think knowing
who's helpful for what kind of thing
yeah it's super helpful like who's who's
a good late-night person to reach out to
for help who's a great person who's
gonna help you get off the couch when
you're feeling more depressed and you
need someone to just like push you to
going outside another really great thing
is that resources that online there's a
bunch of online communities as well
totally sports and like Twitter and he
has ups and downs food regarding mental
health oh yeah but one of the nice
things about it is there are a lot of
people who are open about their own list
there's some great youtubers there's
some great sub subreddit subreddit
groups just subreddit sub reddits
yes see this is what separates the older
boy from the younger real idea the next
one I have is meditation actually oh and
that's really helped me at a few points
if you can afford it headspace is a
great app it was really great and really
soothing to get relaxed and then also
the whole kind of point of meditation
it's just to accept I think I quoted
Stephen Fry last time like he says the
moods are like the weather just because
there's clouds doesn't mean there's
gonna be clouds forever totally and you
can just accept and move on
totally yeah my next one is I can't
remember oh this is my favorite one
okay yeah very excited to share this
consume awesome stories yes that is
super important to find stories about
bipolar disorder like memoirs
my favorite is marbles by Ellen Forney
it's a graphic memoir you haven't read
it I haven't but I've heard of it and I
want to talk to her she's amazing and
she just came out with a sequel which is
called rock steady which is like a it's
a book about like how to cope the color
disorder it's amazing and then I talked
last time about next normal this
Broadway show you mentioned Maria
Bamford
there's Katie Redford Jameson's and
unquiet mind there's so many books that
will
give you hope will make you feel less
alone will help you to better understand
it to kind of contextualize it Stephen
Fry's documentary the secret like a life
of a manic-depressive I've seen I've
seen it five times maybe more and it's
really good and it's really succinct one
other reason it's important to find a
story that really resonates with you is
so you can give that story to someone
else yes to like a friend someone you're
dating a family members to say read this
watch this
listen to this this is what I'm going
through
yeah even like musics really great
totally like anything from Nirvana kind
of like to be honest some music will
pull you down and some music will lift
you up and so it's also about knowing
what music captures the experience so
you can share to other people and also
knowing what music helps you when you're
going too fast
yeah and what music will help you when
you're going too slow absolutely the
next one I have is writing you should
create things for you you should create
things for other people yeah sure so
what journal might be just for you and
you're just going this is how I feel or
might be an application you might write
notes in the application or you might
start a blog and go this is what I'm
going through so you know what's going
on with me or you might start a podcast
or five or do stand-up which is what I
do
which is my other thing is like that's
how a lot of the ways how I cope have
won more in its schmaltzy like I like
small so why do you like schmaltz - I
missed the 90s I love it I love the
deities some 90s kid I miss I miss
sincerity but it is love and it is the
biggest coping mechanism is learning to
love others and learning to love
yourself and like you said learning to
love people's stories and seeing what
they've gone through and just sharing
because specifically I think we
mentioned in the last episode bipolar
people are very sensitive and I think
they have a lot of love to give and I
think you tap into that and you let
yourself experience that and let it show
and don't get so wrapped up with
that might be bad that's going on and
you let yourself love yourself and love
the people around you in your community
and give back and empathize I think
that's the most helpful thing to cope
with life let alone illness that's a
great place for us to tie this up what
are your favorite ways to cope with
bipolar depression let us know in the
comments below where can people go to
check out more of your work I have a
website Tristen Jay Miller comm has all
my information there I do a podcast
called positive and negative that talks
about mental health in the arts and then
I have a youtube channel which here here
where they're probably there it's
probably here yeah all the links will be
in the doobly-doo below and thanks so
much for will be not my Frank you for
having me this was a blast and a half
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