bipolar disorder Archives - Page 7 of 37 - Natasha Tracy Bipolar Expert

Fatigue and Bipolar Disorder — Symptoms, Treatment

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Sep 16, 2020

I experience massive fatigue with bipolar disorder. True, there are likely other components to my fatigue, but I know bipolar disorder is a driving factor. The fatigue is so bad that I think it’s one of the worst parts of bipolar disorder or any chronic illness. Fatigue affects my life on a daily basis like no other symptom of bipolar disorder and worse yet, there are pretty much no cognitive tools I can use to cope with it. Read on to learn about bipolar disorder and fatigue, why it’s so hard to best and the treatments for fatigue in bipolar.

Start Suicide Prevention Conversations and Forget the ‘Rules’

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Sep 8, 2020

I firmly believe that suicide prevention starts with a conversation. A conversation that can stop suicide can be initiated by the person feeling suicidal or someone around them; regardless, a conversation is the starting point. But it can be very intimidating to talk about suicide. There are all kinds of “rules” when you talk about suicide and political correctness affects the language you are “allowed” to use. I say forget all that. Suicide prevention starts with a conversation that makes sense to you, not the PC police.

Pain May Not Get Better; Don’t Say, ‘It Gets Better’

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Sep 1, 2020

Recently a commenter called me out for saying, “It will get better.” The commenter’s point is that pain doesn’t get better for everyone and saying “It gets better,” is a lie; and, I can see how it could be somewhat dismissive of an individual’s experience. I understand this commenter’s complaint. I understand that just saying, “It gets better,” can sound just as trite as, “Turn that frown upside down.” So let’s talk about when things don’t get better. Let’s talk about the nuance of what to say when pain is not getting better.

Real, Tough Men Cry Too

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Aug 24, 2020

Do you think “real” men cry? What do you think “real” men are like? I’m a man and I say tough guys are sensitive and real guys cry too.

Depression and Judging Based on Productivity

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Aug 18, 2020

I work very hard to be productive every day in spite of depression. My depression would like me to stay in bed — forever — but I fight back. I get out of bed, I have coffee, I write and so on. And at the end of the day, I look back and see how productive I was. I find this metric very important. It turns out it’s the depression that makes me judge my productivity very harshly.

The Myth of Recovery in Serious Mental Illness

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Jul 20, 2020

Can people with serious mental illnesses recover? That’s the question. It depends on your definition of “recovery” of course, but we’ll get to that in a minute. “Recovery” is now the goal when it comes to mental illnesses and, if your doctor is anything like the one I had when I was diagnosed, he will have told you that you will recover. But I’m not sure that recovery isn’t a myth for those with serious mental illness. Read one for more about not recovering from serious mental illness.

Mourning Bipolar Disability

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Jul 9, 2020

I think it’s important to mourn a life with a disability like bipolar disorder. Not everyone with bipolar disorder is disabled, of course, there is a range of functionalities associated with bipolar disorder, but for those for whom it is a disability, mourning it is part of the bipolar diagnosis acceptance process. Unfortunately, this is rarely focused on or even discussed by healthcare professionals. This doesn’t make it unimportant, however. I believe mourning a bipolar disability is actually something that can improve one’s mental health.

Errors in Thinking in Bipolar — Cognitive Distortions Webinar Announced

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Jul 1, 2020

I wrote a piece here called “How a Person with Bipolar Disorder Thinks.” It has been one of the most popular articles here with almost one million people (really) having read it. But, of course, a short article on thinking in bipolar disorder is just the tip of the iceberg. I didn’t even touch on the errors in thinking, called cognitive distortions, that are common in bipolar disorder. That’s why I developed a webinar on just such a topic. This new webinar is called: Get Real 4: How People with BIpolar Think — Cognitive Distortions.

Want to See Natasha Tracy Speak? Mental Health Webinar Now Available

Posted by Natasha Tracy | May 18, 2020

I’ve spoken at many mental health conferences and corporate events. This has been great for me and I’ve met some of my readers at those locations. Unfortunately, the vast majority of my readers haven’t been able to attend those events due to location, cost or simply because they were private events. So, after many requests, I’ve decided to start offering live, online mental health webinars. You can see the new Speaking Events heading on the upper menu. Under that, you’ll be able to find all the upcoming mental health speaking events.