Bipolar Support Groups – The Benefits
Support through Unity
A mental illness is quite unlike a physical one in that a diagnosis is not as easily made – this can lead the people who suffer from mental disorders such as bipolar depression to feel isolated; almost as if they are the only person who is going through what they are and that there is no help for them. For this reason, bipolar support groups can be very helpful to people suffering from bipolar disorders. Belonging to bipolar support groups can go a long way towards alleviating these feelings of isolation and even helping them to manage their illness.
These kinds of feelings make it difficult for many people dealing with mental health problems to even seek treatment for their condition.
However, bipolar depression support groups and general depression support groups have proliferated in recent years; and they are making a large difference in the lives of those dealing with bipolar depression and other disorders. When someone joins a bipolar support group, they know immediately that they are not alone and there really is help out there for them. Many of those struggling with mental illness lack the kind of help that bipolar depression support groups can provide.
What is a Bipolar Support Group?
Like any support group, these are a group of people who meet regularly to discuss their issues and provide mutual moral support to one another. These groups tend to be highly specialized; for example, you would not be likely to find a bipolar depression support group which also dealt with the problems of people with psychotic disorders.
Generally speaking, a bipolar support group will be something a patient may use alongside treatment from a mental health professional. These groups are unlike a group therapy session – these bipolar support groups are an informal gathering removed from a clinical setting.
There are support groups out there specializing in nearly every type of mental disorder as well as groups for the family members of these patients. Of course, is no appropriate group in your area, you could also choose to start your own. There are also more formal bipolar support groups and depression support groups which have been established by clinics, mental health professionals or non-profit organizations; these support groups will generally have a moderator who is a professional in the field.
Online Based Bipolar Support Groups
In this ever more wired age, there is a growing number of online based bipolar support groups; these may even have a broader focus than merely bipolar depression, but there will usually be discrete categories for different mental disorders covered by the group – these groups have the advantage of letting those who would otherwise be too geographically isolated to gain the benefits of bipolar disorder support groups. There are also telephone based support groups; these are beneficial to some patients – a criticism often made of online support groups is their inability to offer highly personalized support to patients.
While a bipolar support group can be an invaluable resource, it should never be taken to be a substitute for professional psychological treatment. A group can help, but it is meant to be an adjunct for therapy, not a replacement for it.
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Comments on Bipolar Support Groups – The Benefits
i have a theory about mental illness. it is caused intentionally by the species to create a vast part of the population that is disoriented and consequently absorbs all the skull resonance of the misdirected comments of the normal people. in this way language is kept from escaping into the environment where other species might decode it and form a counter measure. any population has a distribution of individual susceptibility to dislodgement. all the species needs to do is set a condition with a precise threashold and the population will separate into a disoriented, mentally ill part, and a normal healthy part. you can read more about my theory at my blog, http://gettingyourbusiness.blogspot.com
the technorati.com tag cloud there, the mental illness tag, goes to this technorati.com page:
http://technorati.com/tag/mental%20illness?from=http://gettingyourbusiness.blogspot.com&sub=tr_tagcloud_t_js
"it is caused intentionally by the species to create a vast part of the population that is disoriented and consequently absorbs all the skull resonance of the misdirected comments of the normal people"
This is a WACKY theory…. if you knew someone who has Bipolar you would know it is not INTENTIONAL.. You haven't got a CLUE!!! Not to sound nasty…but reaseach it more and not even then could you understand it…
i had a brother in law that killed himself thursday night after spending 30 plus years in the military he went to the hospital and told them he felt suicidal they give him some pills and sent him home 2 hours later he shot and killed himself what has this goverment turned into they could care less about the soldiers that have fought for country
have you checked out http://www.mdjunction.com/bipolar ?
it looks like a great support group (but i'm not a member so i'm not sure…..).
james you sound like a COMPLETE JERK to me.
Hi, I'm an 18 year old girl who's been told she's exibiting many symptoms of bipolar by a friend. Including: extreme uncontrollable mood swings, impulsive obsessive behavior, feeling hyper and 'wired' for periods of time (tripping over my words or not talking sense or noticing strange things like word sounds, having too much energy or too many thoughts) I also feel extremely irritated as if I don't want to be touched. Also on the downs: I feel sometimes so bad that I'm suicidal and cry for no reason, feel guilty about things I know aren't my fault, reckless things like driving like i don't care, self harming, anger, feeling tired a lot, frustrated, helpless and despairing. I've had counciling for depression until recently when things improved, but i know it wont last. I told my doctor and she acted like i was lying and said that my counciler would have been able to tell. I dont know what to do:'( I feel like everything ive been feeling finaly makes sense. I'd like to know your opinion. I need help:/ X
Charlotte- email me and I'll try and make it make sense to you.
I have a family history of bi-polar on my mother's side, yet a self-aware empathetic family history on my father's side, so I've been working to hone these skills that I feel I've been gifted with. We (anyone with bi-polar) have all been given a gift to be someone extraordinary, but because of current society, we are simply ahead of our time. It's our duty to have the confidence to lead others with our crazy ideas, and learn the ability to sell ideas to other people (get sales experience! It helps).
We have the ability to link creative ideas with logical explanations on how the hell we got there. We have the ability to think on our feet, and evaluate every part of what's going on right in front of us; yet if we cannot forsee a reasonable immediate future to work toward, we lose sight of the now and feel lost altogether. This makes the teens and early twenties such perilous times, as our immediate futures are never quite available all the time.
I came to a self-realizing point a few months ago, and my brain has been a stormcloud of new ideas, morals, and lessons ever since. The dust finally settled yesterday when I went bowling alone and played keno, as I gamble time to time. On a whim, I decided to guess numbers at random instead of going with my normal set of numbers. In between frames, I glanced up to see if my numbers were played, and my initial thought was "damn! I changed my numbers, I don't know if I've won or not"; but my afterthought was, "Well, it's more exciting that I don't know if I've won or not; sometimes it's best to not have the answers right away"- and at that thought I smiled, and felt very at ease. If we knew everything, the thrill of living would go away, and life would be too easy.
It is our struggles that keep us moving, so never fear.
Anyone who wants continued advice or needs someone to listen to them, please send me an email.
Geoff!