What are some good ways to beat Bipolar and Depression?

Well, you just eliminated my two answers which are counseling and medication. I don’t think there are any better ways.

If you aren’t going to talk to anyone or take anything, there isn’t a whole lot you can do.
BTW, it’s just bipolar not bipolarism.

Keep away from your “triggers” if possible. Live a social, healthy lifestyle. Surround yourself with positive friends that are aware of your problems and will support you.

However, medication is always the safer route. Please, please at least mention to your Doctor that you think you have these problems.

I don’t understand why you don’t want to give yourself the best options out there for treatment? It’s hard for a lot of people to co-exist with Bipolar or Depression – with medications, at times.

Why not allow these options?

My sister is bipolar, suffers from terrible anxiety and fights depression. She tried that path you want to take, now she’s much happier and functioning. medicated and with therapy. She’s 41, almost 42. She’s been bipolar for most of her life.

Those are serious, potentially dangerous problems, even if you may not think so. As distasteful as it may be, you need to see a professional, and they will likely prescribe medication to help. Do whatever it takes.

Many people use these terms loosely for just feeling down. If you are truly clinically depressed or have a professionally given diagnosis for Bipolar Disorder, you will beat neither alone. Talk about it online and with friends all of you want to, but like it or not, you need professional help.

How do you know that you are bipolar and clinically depressed, if you refuse to see a doctor? There are too many variables with both of these to self-diagnose unless you are a professional. Perhaps I don’t know the whole story.

I am diagnosed as both, as well. I did not refuse the two best things available to me. It is a strong possibility that your decision not to seek counseling, nor to explore medications, is actually being made by your issues, and not by YOU.

I urge you to at least consult a hotline with counselors who can discuss your symptoms with you. You cannot trust yourself for sure, even though odds are higly in your favor that, under normal circumstances, you’re smart enough to see the research objectively. I’m not seeing objectivity in your statements.

Option one: You could spend the next ten years of your life without medication or therapy. You could try alternative treatments (e.g. diet, exercise, vitamin and herbal supplements, routines, self-help books, etc.). You could take the scenic route (e.g. change jobs, colleges, residences, relationships, etc.) every two years. You could self-medicate (e.g. alcohol, drugs, sex, etc.). You could torment yourself and others with the dramatic highs and lows – all the while thinking you’ve got “it” under control.

Option two: You could seek professional help, swallow your pride, accept support from friends and loved ones, and admit that you have a life-long, yet very treatable illness—you could do this and live a relatively happy, stable, and successul life.

I’ve tried both. Option two is much better!

Intense therapy is the only thing that helped me. I haven’t taken medication in years, but I gad to learn good coping skills and be able to recognize if I started to slip. But, unlike you, if I did slip back into depression or mania, I would go on medication.

The reasons why you don’t want to talk to anyone are probably the same reasons you need to.

this has been shown to be effective.

There are a lot of good answers above….They have said it all.

@phillis A personal account is worth more than any number of opinions. I hope he/she listens to you.

@thriftymaid I hope so, too. Thank you :)

I also forgot to mention one VERY important thing.

You owe it to those who have to share their live with you, not to be a bipolar dick. You can’t keep the episodes from coming, but you can damn sure control your behavior for the most part, during one. Without medication OR counseling, it isnt just you who suffers. Family members, friends, and coworkers have to deal with you too, and how they get hurt by you matters a great deal. Do the responsible thing.

Nothing is wrong with you. You’re perfect. You just developed bad coping mechanisms from traumatic experiences. Check out reevaluation counseling and see if it’s something you’d be interested in. If you don’t want to take medication, you’ve got to be willing to put in the work to get better. It isn’t easy, but I think it’s worth it.

@KhiaKarma I think DBT would fall under the category of talking to someone, as it’s basically guided group therapy.

Without a proper assessment you can’t possibly know which of the two disorders applies to you or if in fact neither one applies.

Anyone who wants to overcome a real and serious problem by first ruling out all proven methods of treatment is either unrealistic or will require involuntary commitment in a psychiatric ward or a mental hospital. That is what typically happens to people who refuse treatment when they have a serious mental disorder.

By voluntarily seeking assessment and treatment, you are unlikely to be committed without your consent.

If serious disorders could be successfully treated on a do-it-yourself basis, then people would do their own heart surgery too.

There are people who oppose vaccination, pasteurization, seat belts, safety helmets, medication or psychotherapy. Most such people are misinformed or uninformed.

If your life feels out of control, then make good decisions that will provide you the best possible help. There are probably loved ones and friends who do not what to see you suffer needlessly. Why would you want less than that for yourself?

Although I think that if you need medication you should take it, I don’t like the idea of being so medicated that your not yourself. One key is self awareness. You need to be able to recognize when you are going into a manic or depressive phase and be open to the help of others and allow them to bring it to your attention.
Julie Fast has some really good coping tools, although my daughter found her stuff a little overwhelming. If you want to minimize medication, you have to work really really hard at self awareness and recognizing when it is really you and when it is really the illness, and look at yourself objectively. Julie’s tools can help you do that. Check out her link.

I have seen counselors who have told me I was depressed and bipolar… and that medication and counseling are my best routes. I just want to try something before medicating myself. I don’t like the idea of being medicated.

@ducky_dnl – what is it about being medicated that you don’t like?

@prolificus I think medication will sorta take away my life. Like make my rainbow world turn grey.

You won’t know until you try. And there are different meds or combinations thereof they can experiment with to adjust results. In any case, you should be exploring these feelings with a therapist, including your resistance to meds.

@ducky_dnl – I thought this once, too. Hence why I was off it for ten years. When I was 19, I was on a weird combo of meds that included anti-psychotic drugs. It made me feel really horrible! After taking myself off meds (without doctor supervision), I spent the next ten years thinking I had “it” under control while my life was chaotic. With the support of friends, I sought psychiatric care again and went on a different combo of drugs. It worked well, but I became stubborn about taking my meds on a regular basis (because I thought I was better than the meds, etc.). Two years after taking myself off meds a second time, and a series of hard-learned lessons, I am back on meds because I realized it simply isn’t worth not being on meds.

If you have a doctor willing to spend more than 5 minutes with you, and if you decide to explore the process of finding the right med combo that works for you, then there is no reason why medication will take your life away.

I’m an artsy fartsy type of person who loves to think, feel, dream, imagine, etc. etc. Taking the med combo that works for me on a regular basis helps me to focus on life—on the things making my rainbow colorful. Not taking meds actually prevents me from enjoying my colorful rainbow.

I know it is incredibly scary to take meds, especially if they seem to take away from your personality, pleasures, etc. It’s just from experience I have learned to work through my fears and make self-care my priority. Not taking medication simply isn’t a part of my self-care.

You don’t necessarily have to be on medication forever (though for some that is how they function best) – a lot of people can eventually be weaned off through working with a therapist to discover their triggers and how to deal with them. Also there are a lot of medications available now, and a good psychiatrist wants to find what’s best for you.

@papayalily Xactly. But it can also be done individually (not individually as in not talking to someone, but as in not group.)

If you really want to understand depression and its treatment, including the roles of therapy and medication, there is no better place than here to go