Bipolarity, Finding Equilibrium On The Seesaw
Have you gotten on a seesaw? If that’s a memory from your childhood, then you know how difficult it can be to keep your balance. It seems that you can only be at one end or the other. Because staying in the middle is extremely difficult. This is bipolarity.
For those who suffer from bipolarity, life is a seesaw: one day above, where the sky can almost be touched with the fingers, and another below, where the earth is seen in a dangerous way, so dangerous that it makes you want to be under her forever.
Known for many years as manic-depressive illness, bipolar disorder consists of experiencing extreme periods : high energy, extreme euphoria, feelings of greatness and erratic behavior, and then depression rolls down to the bottom of self-esteem and having difficulty sleeping , hopelessness and suicidal thoughts, among other signs.
Like the seasons, bipolarity is cyclical
Like the seasons, bipolarity is cyclical and depending on the intensity of the symptoms, there are those who can have pleasantly hot or overly torrid summers. Type I bipolar suffers from a heat that can burn.
Although he suffers from the winter of depression, in the summer heat he has very marked euphoric episodes, even with psychotic features, which cause social problems. For example, a bipolar I may believe himself to have supernatural powers and perform dangerous acts for himself and those around him.
The bipolar II, on the other hand, after the depressive snow melts, enjoys a warm and pleasant mood, with a lot of energy and productivity. Likewise, it can rain while the sun is shining: when that happens, we are facing a mixed episode. A sun at midnight: the person has a lot of energy, but is negative, full of anxiety, aggressiveness and suicidal ideas.
The reason for this climate change is chemical: an imbalance between brain neurotransmitters, the chemicals that transmit signals from one neuron to another, fail to regulate moods. Although the reason is unknown, it is known that it can be hereditary and that, so far, there is no cure.
Do you think you have bipolar disorder?
Do you think you have it? Don’t worry: you can lead a perfectly normal life. There are a number of myths surrounding bipolarity that make those who suffer from it see as unpredictable creatures, who cannot be trusted and who, in their madness, may at one point yell at you to laugh within two minutes and then burst into tears . This is not exactly the case: although there are “rapid cyclers”, whose state changes in a short period of time, it does not always appear and hardly occurs on the same day.
Do not think that you are crazy. What happens is that, just as there are chronic diseases, such as diabetes or asthma, you have had one and the good news is that bipolar disorder can be treated and moods will stop jumping from one extreme to another in the emotional seesaw.
The appropriate medications and psychotherapy, when necessary, are a couple of brushes that will take care of that black and white to mix them into a balanced gray, which returns you to a full life to enjoy it with all possible nuances.
In this way, you can enjoy your days with as much satisfaction as in your childhood, when getting on a seesaw was fun, while the sun of a healthy stability illuminates your life. Do not think that all is lost and that your day can turn black without being able to avoid it. Thanks to the control of a professional you can lead a totally normal life.
