Mixed Bipolar Disorder – Mixed Mood Episodes in Bipolar 1

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Aug 8, 2011

Ask a Bipolar – What is a mixed mood in bipolar disorder?

As one of the Burble’s commenters mentioned, there seems to be a lack of good information on mixed moods available. After some Googling, I would tend to agree. While mixed mood episodes are pretty common for us bipolar folk, few people seem to be discussing it.

This is the beginning of a four-part series on mixed moods in bipolar disorder:

Mixed Mood Episodes in Bipolar Type I
Mixed Mood Episodes in Bipolar Type II
Changes to Mixed Mood Episode Diagnosis in the Revision of the DSM
Treating Mixed Mood Episodes

Custom Bipolar Mood Scales for the T2 Mood Tracker

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Jul 28, 2011

As requested, I’m going to provide the details on the custom mood / variables I use in the T2 Mood Tracker. These are just my variables, they certainly don’t have to be yours, but they might be good to glance over.

Custom Moods / Variables I Use to Improve Mood Tracking

As I mentioned, the difficult a case you are, and boy am I difficult, the more challenging the patterns can be to find. This is why I’ve included these extra variables. Custom moods / variables include:

Sleep
Exercise
Hypomania
Physical

Mood Tracking for Bipolar Disorder – How Do I Track My Mood? (2/2)

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Jul 27, 2011

OK, you’ve sold me as to why I should track my mood (part 1); so just how do I track my mood?

Obviously, the simplest form of mood tracking is just recording depression and mania on a scale, say, of one-to-ten. You could use a “paper” and “pencil” (look it up on Wikipedia).

You might still notice mood trends but that type of mood tracking is not nearly as helpful as it could be. And the more complicated your case, the more you already know, the more subtle your shifts may be and the less you’ll see using simple methods.

There are far more useful, not to mention easier, options.

Ask a Bipolar – What Mental Health Topics Are You Interested In?

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Jul 22, 2011

If you’ve been around for the last couple of weeks either at the Burble or at Breaking Bipolar, you know it’s been pretty much all suicide all the time. And there will probably be more to come on suicide as it’s an awfully big topic.

But I do have a question for everyone:

What topics would you like to see on the Burble?

Warning Signs You Need to Know – How to Predict a Suicide Attempt (2/2)

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Jul 20, 2011

In part one I discussed the details of a study about 100 people who attempted suicide in Florida. Part two outlines the predictive factors for suicide attempts identified in this study and how we can use this information to predict who will attempt suicide.

And perhaps more importantly, how you can prevent a suicide attempt in a loved one.

Suicide Warning Signs You Need to Know – Who Attempts Suicide? (1/2)

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Jul 18, 2011

Some of us in the mental health field have heard the suicide warning signs so often it’s practically tattooed on the back of our skull: suicide note, suicide plan persistent thoughts of suicide, previous suicide attempt and so on.

But if you think you know the warning signs for a suicide attempt you’re probably wrong, at least according to a study out of Florida. For example, fewer than 1-in-10 people leave suicide notes and fewer than one-third of people have persistent thoughts of suicide before their suicide attempt.

Five New Bipolar Depression Treatments You Don’t Know About – Part 2/2

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Jun 22, 2011

As I mentioned, people with bipolar type II spend 35X more time depressed than hypomanic, and yet there are very few treatments available.

As we discussed last time, the neurotransmitter glutamate and the inflammatory complex are two new, badly-needed areas of bipolar depression treatment research. Here are three additional bipolar depression treatment areas you probably don’t know about: diet, antioxidants and modafinil.

5 New Bipolar Depression Treatments You Don’t Know About – Part 1

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Jun 17, 2011

People with bipolar disorder 2 spend 35 times more time depressed than hypomanic. As a person with bipolar type 2, I can tell you how true this is. Bipolar type 2 is more like a depressive disorder than a bipolar one. However, this doesn’t mean bipolar disorder 2 can just be treated like unipolar depression. If only life were that simple.

Bipolar disorder type 2 depression treatments must not induce hypomania or mania, and antidepressants used alone often do that. For this reason bipolar 2 depression treatment is generally like happy hour (full of cocktails). And many of us are very frustrated with the fact no new medications are being developed for our mental illness.

So here’s some hope. Here are five bipolar depression treatment areas you probably don’t know about.

What you should be Reading in Mental Health

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Jun 3, 2011

Busy. Crazy. Crazy busy. New antipsychotic. You know how it is.

Mental Illness Articles You Should Read

As per the usual, however, I plow through my own research materials like a crazy person possessed. So I do know of many excellent articles you should be reading.

Check out these articles from Breaking Bipolar and other great sources:

Schizophrenia Awareness Fights Fear and Stigma – This is a video embedded in a post at Breaking Bipolar and has been quite well-received. Please take a look at this short piece and learn something about a mental illness that most people irrationally fear.
Do Mental Illness Diagnoses Matter? – Sometimes people argue that diagnoses are too broad and overlap too much. I’ve even heard of doctors not wanting to tell their patients their diagnosis because they don’t want them “hung up on it.” But I argue that even if ill-fitting mental illness diagnoses do matter. (Also read a good piece about addiction terminology. Did you know “addiction” isn’t in the DSM?)
Doctors Asking Questions About Suicide – Sometimes it seems like the questions doctors ask about suicidal thought are useless, but I don’t think they are.
How to Handle the Common Symptoms of Schizophrenia – This is an amazing document by the British Columbia Schizophrenia Society. This is so clear and so useful that I think it’s a must-read for anyone that has or knows someone with any mental illness. It will not just tell you about schizophrenia and psychosis, but will tell you about mental illness thought processes in general. (Also, How Friends and Families can Handle Psychosis.)
Scientific and Consumer Models of Recovery in Schizophrenia: Concordance, Contrasts, and Implications – Interesting paper that discusses various treatments including medication and non-medication based. Yes, it’s long but there are some interesting bit in there.