I recently spent an interesting half an hour talking with a very successful businessman who has bipolar about how to get his office work done even though he has periods when he is depressed, and his thought processes are slowed down. One of his big issues is that when he is depressed he finds himself staring off into space rather than working his …
Sleep and the Lunar Cycle
One of our readers wondered if bipolar people are more sensitive to lunar cycles. I could not find any evidence for that, but I did run across a recent research report suggesting that everyone (bipolar or not) may have a sleep cycle that corresponds to the phase of the moon. Researchers at the University of Basel studied 33 people and …
Happy Birthday MoodSurfing
Time flies when you are having fun! It is hard to believe, but this site has been up and running for two years. And growing and evolving. Right now we have four active authors. We have a forum where people can receive support, get advice, give advice, and generally talk about the challenges faced when you try to “live creatively …
Training Your Brain – by Lyndsey
I’m an avid animal lover in general, and dog lover in specific. I take a lot of life’s cues from dogs because they are such happy creatures. They greet every day with joy, rarely obsess and generally live in the moment, which seems to make them content. And I want that. I was listening to the Dog Whisperer give advice …
Acceptance: Living with Bipolar
I recently came across an article that described a man’s experience with bipolar disorder. I was struck by his reported shift in his relationship to the disorder from one of fighting it to one of embracing it and learning how to live with it as opposed to against it. This is such a powerful and difficult transition; one that can …
Mood Swings – What Causes Them?
What causes mood swings? What do we think about when someone says their mood has been “up and down?”Among the most common causes of mood shifts are the following: A mood disorder such as bipolar, or an atypical depression. Bipolar as a cause is obvious, but an atypical depression can also be associated with mood swings. In the case of bipolar …
MoodSurfing – It Isn’t About Reaching a Goal
I have had a couple of conversations this past week that reminded me of my belief that one of the big problems in this country is our preoccupation with “results.” Elsewhere, I’ve noted how this leads to short term strategies that have bad long term consequences. In education, this means cramming for exams instead of learning the material. In business it means not investing in …
Why Do We Procrastinate?
Procrastination may be related to impulsive decision making. This somewhat surprising finding is based on a large study of twins. Most modern explanations of procrastination have focused on avoidance and aversion. You put off things because you are afraid of some negative consequence (doing badly, not meeting your standards, etcetera), in other words, you are avoiding a bad outcome. More recent studies have suggested that …
Bipolar for Beginners
So you’ve just learned that you are bipolar. If you’re like me, things in your outer world have unraveled and you now find yourself with a new diagnosis and (hopefully) a helpful psychiatrist. I’m going to list the ‘awarenesses’ that helped me understand how my new brain works in the hopes that these will help speed up your own recovery. …
Welcome Lyndsey to the Site
I am very happy to welcome a new writer to the blog. Her name is Lyndsey, and I will be posting her first entry in a couple of hours. I think that you will find that she adds a unique perspective on what it takes to “live creatively with moods.” Here is what she wrote as an introduction – My …
Spring Means Change – MoodSurfing Update
Spring is in full bloom here in Northern California. Great, sunny, warm days followed by spring storms with clean crisp air and the vibrant greens of new grass and leaves.Perhaps because it is Spring, this has been a wonderful time of growth for the website. We have a record number of visitors. We recently moved the site to a much better server that should be …
Denial: I’m not Bipolar, Doctor
You’re wrong, Doctor ! I’m not bipolar! How can you say that to me? You just met me – how can you possibly know??!! I’m just depressed and I get agitated and anxious and hyper – sometimes but everyone gets moody ! It s normal to have moods. You re pathologizing me! No other doctor has ever told me I have bipolar, …
L-Methylfolate for Depression
Methylfolate is the active form of folic acid – which is an essential B vitamin. Methylfolate is essential for the brain to make the neurotransmitters that prevent depression (norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine). In other words, a low level of depression can cause or worsen depression because it leads to lower levels of serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine. Most of us are able to get plenty …
Managing Tasks without Pain
A young woman who is attending architecture school mentioned a sudden dip in mood that happened the previous evening. She told me that this had to do with a day of working very hard to try to get tasks accomplished, and the anger and frustration at the end of the day when she hadn’t done as much as she wanted to, …
Update: We’re Back!
Phew, it has been a busy week… I have spent more quality time with tech support for HostGator (the new hosting company) and GoDaddy (the old hosting company) than I have spent with my family… sigh. However, the good news is that (cross fingers) it looks as though we finally have made the transfer and gotten everything working again. Now …
Exercise for Sexual Dysfunction
Among the greatest problems that come from antidepressant treatment (and a leading cause of medication discontinuation) are sexual side effects. Early in the course of treatment with serotonin antidepressants, many people experience less interest in sex and difficulty reaching orgasm. Numerous prescribed and over-the-counter medications have been proposed as antidotes. The fact that there are so many proposed antidotes suggests …
Ten Times More People With Serious Mental Illness in Jails Than Hospitals
Quoted in its entirety from American Psychiatric Press’s News Updates – Ten times more individuals with serious mental illness are residing in state prisons and county jails +today than in the nation’s state psychiatric hospitals, according to a new study released +today by the Treatment Advocacy Center (TAC). “The Treatment of Persons with Mental Illness in Prisons and Jails: A State Survey” found …
Supplement Update
We got this update from Consumer Labs which reminded us why we think it is a great resource for anyone serious about taking supplements. New Review: Fish & Marine Oils High Quality Fish Oil Supplements Found, But Pitfalls Exist: We recently completed tests of fish, krill, algal, calamari and green-lipped muscle oil supplements. Although we identified many high-quality supplements (some costing just pennies per day), several others …
Zinc Might Prevent Depression
In several animal studies, zinc deficiency can cause behavior that looks like depression. In other animal studies, giving zinc can have antidepressant-like activity if the animals are zinc-deficient. And there is some clinical evidence that zinc might boost the effectiveness of antidepressants in humans. Now a large meta-analysis of studies that looked at zinc blood levels in people with depression (Swardfager, et …
Mindfulness Based Substance Abuse Treatment Works
Relapse is common after substance abuse treatment, indicating that there is a clear need for effective followup options. A new study has found that cognitive-behavioral relapse prevention (RP) and mindfulness-based relapse prevention (MBRP) are both effective aftercare interventions for substance abuse treatment, but that the latter may have an especially enduring effect as far as reducing drug-use days and heavy …