agreed

I was supposed to be working on something but I came across this thread and am now hooked.  So I thought I would share my story for what it is worth.  I have a son who is now 10 and who we adopted at birth.  Both is birth mother and his birth grandmother (she was adopted as well) have been diagnosed bipolar.

Now while there is no childhood diagnosis for bipolar it was evident from pre-school that my son was excitable, confronting and challenging. 

I will stop here and say that how I have come to view his condition as that of say a thousand stringed instrument where there are a few (not many in his case) strings that are tuned differently.  Realizing this there are then, again from my perspective, three avenues for addressing this: behavior modification (both his and mine), medication (muffle the discordant strings) and tune the strings.

In the end we have done all three.  We have taken my son to social group learning sessions to really try and help him do simple things like read peoples faces and take social cues.  This is helping him fit in and make friends.  We have had him take batteries of tests to see how he learns and are adjusting his school experience to fit his learning style.

For the last year he has been taking lamictal and it makes all the difference in the world.  I don't think it takes anything away from his life experience but is sure seems to limit the explosive episodes.

Lastly for about 18 months he has been doing bio-feedback from a therapist who specializes in ADD kids.  The first thing we learned is that he is very different from ADD and maybe called a sub type of ADHD.  But more importantly there are biorhythms at certain frequencies that are way out of whack.  And through this process the goal is and the success has been to get those in tune.

How well is all this, ask me in 5-8 years when the hormones and life changes hit, but right now it is world better then ever.

Hope you don't mind me jumping in.

keeser, this is inspiring, how you all have looked at and managed this situation. Thanks for sharing it.  ambo

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Ambo Suno

Your welcome nothingness and emersod. I'll continue to wag my tongue until it falls off, or until I decide that I need something to chew on and eat it.

egg

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"Like the legendary Ko-ko bird, we follow our own tail around in ever-narrowing circles, but unlike that mythic bird we never complete the process by flying up our own rectums and disappearing."
-Robert Anton Wilson

Hi Livingegg,

What a great thread on bipolar and good to read another of your interesting posts. We previously met on another discussion od panic and anxiety where I introduced you to the wonderful bokk by Claire Weekes.

I have coached some depressed and bipolar individuals and both I and they have found the work of Joe Griffin and Ivan Tyrrell to be really useful at explaining the route cause of depression and Bipolar.

The basis of their thesis is that ALL mental illness results from us not having some of our needs (or what they refer to as "HumanGivens") met these human needs are:

THE HUMAN GIVENS/ NEEDS

 

These are the things we need in life in order to be emotionally balanced.

 

1.      Security- a safe territory / environment to live and work in.

2.      Attention- giving it to and receiving it from others.

3.      Sense of resilience/ autonomy/ control over your life.

4.      Being emotionally connected to others.

5.      Being part of a wider community.

6.      Friendship and intimacy.

7.      Sense of status within ones social grouping.

8.      Sense of competence/ achievement.

9.      Meaning and purpose (comes from being stretched physically and mentally)

They also say that we are provided with certain resources to meet these needs. These include:

HUMAN RESOURCES TO MEET THESE NEEDS

 

Nature has provided us with the equipment to meet these needs

 

1. A long term memory- we can learn new things.
2. The ability to build rapport and connect with others.
3. Imagination- so we can look for different interpretations/ meanings for events.
4. A conscious mind that can check our emotions, question, analyse, plan.
5. The ability to “know,” subconsciously, if something is right, true for us.
6. An observing self- so we can step back and look at ourselves, responses, logic.
7. A dreaming brain. This allows us to defuse emotionally arising expectations that have not been acted out the previous day.

In relation to this last point 7, Joe has carried out some amazing research on the way our bodies use REM sleep to defuse emotional arousal that we have been unable to deal with appropriately during the previous day. The clinical outcome is that if we are seriously aroused today, we have excessive REM sleep tonight (Too much Dreaming). As REM sleep is not restorative, we wake the next dat, in spite of 12 hors sleep, still tired, and so the cycle continues. We are even more aroused today becaus e we are tired, incompetent, get little done, feel angry, guilty, etc and then tonight we will dream even more, trying to resolve the arousal.

Eventually we become depressed, anxious addicted etc.

 

You can find out more about his work on www.mindfields.org . His current book, and he has many is the fastest selling book on Depression ever on amazon.. It is called: "Overcoming depression fast". There is a section in the book on Bipolar. He has many clients who can control their Bipolar without drugs by ensuring that their "Human Givens " (needs) are met. His definitive book is called "Human Givens" which includes his research and a working hypothetical model of the evolutionary nature of REM sleep re emotional and thus mental wellbeing.

I hope that some of you will find this useful.

Des

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Dr Des Rice
Executive and Life Coach,
29 Ravenhill Park,
Belfast BT60DE
Tel 00442890598381
E- mail des@transformyourworld.co.uk
skype desrice130
Website www.transformyourworld.co.uk

The link in the previous post should have read www.mindfields.org.uk . Apologies.

 I am rather proud of the fact that Joe is, like myself, an Irish guy. I hope that has not unduly influenced my objectivity re his competence!

I have done a number of his workshops and they are very useful for professionals and sufferers.We are to do a joint workshop next May for The UK veterinary profession on "Happiness". This is part of a campaign to help the veterinary profession to deal with the very high incidence of depression and suicide among its members.

Des

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Dr Des Rice
Executive and Life Coach,
29 Ravenhill Park,
Belfast BT60DE
Tel 00442890598381
E- mail des@transformyourworld.co.uk
skype desrice130
Website www.transformyourworld.co.uk