How can I overcome a 'mood disorder'?

Question

I feel totally helpless and useless. I feel like I cannot control my actions or emotions. I feel like nobody understands and everyone else seems to think they know better then me. I went to my appointment and he prescribed me a mood stabalizer. But I have to go back in 10 days and he won't give me a months supply cause he don't trust me which I understand. I just feel like attempting almost every day. I feel as though I want to live but I don't. I feel like I have nothing to live for. Someone told me they thought I was on the edge of bipolar: well I crossed that edge and fell. :( I confused and lost. I don't feel like working or being with people. I just got a nice stereo system put in, and I as excited to get it, I've had it for two days and I could care less. I'm scared of myself and I don't know how I will ever overcome this. I feel like I may do something bad before these pills take effect. What should I do? Or not do? As the case may be.

Answer 1

I won't sit here and say that I completely understand what you are going through, but I can say that I have had some very bad times with depression, and have felt the same way (literally) that you do right now. Keep doing what you are doing as far as seeing your doctor if it is helping you. When I was going through that stage of my life it was because of mistakes that I was making, and I was going down a very dark path in my life, which I had to turn around... and eventually did. HOWEVER... if you could be bi-polar, (ask a doctor, don't go off of what someone says because this is serious), you need to get medical help. Being bi-polar is a disorder... it's not just something that happens (I have known bi-polar people). Please continue with your doctor, and maybe try to find a counselor to speak to. There is help out there, all you have to do is look for it. Understand that no matter how shitty life can be, it can get better.

Answer 2

I am suffering from some, well, alot of your same symptoms. I am on a mood stablizer, a sleeping pill, and an antidepressant. I just found out today that I may have Adult A.D.D. (see the link below to get a small eval.) If this is the case than there isn't the need for all the meds I'm on. Or it will help my doc to look at my case from another angle. Doctors can only help us when they are fully able to, and if we don't help them find the answers, we only have their point of view. I want all avinues open to me in my recovery. If your opinion isn't important to your doc, then you need to find a new one. If you would like to talk more, my address is [e-mail].

Answer 3

Try professional help. A psychologist or psychiatrist or something. If you go to church or have have convictions then definitely talk to a minister or pastor you trust.

If you are looking for something you can do yourself in addition, go to the bookstore. Try the self-help section and see what interests you. Then start wandering around the store. See what interests you. Try looking at books about anything that you might take an interest in. Some vague examples: Hairstyles, gardening, wedding planning, art, puppies and kitties, computers, or whatever interests you. occupy your mind a little to take away the time spent on thinking about life and its ups and downs.

People love you and you need to give yourself the chance to have a great life! Don't give up!

God bless you!

Answer 4

I was in the same position. My advice is to think about someone that you care about [possibly your mom or dad?] And think of how they will really feel. Don't let your mind tell you that someone does not care about you. I don't even know you, but I do care. Just read books or do something that will take your mind off of it until the pills work. I hope that I helped. Hope everything works out

Answer 5

if u don't trust yourself, call you doctor before he sees you, for advise. if you situation is critical call a help line or admit yourself to a psychiatric hospital, were you can be safe. please hold on, i know you will get better, the pills take about 10 days to work, and you will feel a lot better. i went through this with my brother, who was in the same situation as you. he did get better, and so will you. good luck

Answer 6

I suffer from borderline personality, bi-polar, major depressive disorder, keep throwing in labels.....I attend a DBT group (dialectal behavioral therapy) and DBT therapy one on one. It works. I only wanted medication. I have found that meds and therapy are the only way I can overcome my moods.

Answer 7

Cure Social Anxiety Shyness - http://SocialAnxiety.uzaev.com/?UqCY

Answer 8

There are many people who would make fun of the possibility of changing their fates. This is due to the fact that it believes that nobody gets more that exactly what is written in his fate.

Answer 9

Call the Crisis Councelor at the Hospital! You need to be admitted until you are safe on your own.

Answer 10

This Article by By Alicia Fortinberry, MS will certainly help you .



"I hate you! Linda screamed one second before the plate of spaghetti flew from her hand towards her husband’s head. Paul ducked just in time, but the next missile, a wet dishtowel, hit its mark and blinded him temporarily.

In the ten years of their marriage, Linda and Paul had survived numerous such incidents. Linda would fly into uncontrollable rages, sometimes, it seemed, as a result of Paul’s equally frequent depressive episodes, when he would disappear for hours, occasionally overnight. In reality the origin of both their emotional problems lay in childhood experience, which is the root cause of most mood disorders.

Paul and Linda are not alone in suffering from these kinds of problems. Recent research suggests that the incidence of depression alone is doubling every twenty years.

In our latest book, Creating Optimism: A Proven Seven-Step Program for Overcoming Depression (McGraw-Hill, 2004), we show how people like Linda and Paul can understand and overcome their mood disorders. In fact, almost any relationship can be made so supportive that it becomes an important part of the healing process.

Mood disorders come in many forms, some of them deeply disguised. Depression, for example, can manifest itself as a physical illness. Studies show that 80% of people who visit physicians suffer from depression. Unfortunately, less than half of all doctors are able to recognize “somatized” depression for what it is, leading to increased suffering and large bills for the wrong kind of treatment.

The cause of this depression pandemic lies in a highly dysfunctional society that puts huge stressors on families and makes it nearly impossible for children to get their developmental and personal needs met.

Linda’s outbursts are a direct result of violent abuse by her father, and Paul’s depression can be traced to a childhood environment so critical that several times he ran away from home to escape it. Their genetic makeup may partially explain their moods; however, most studies have shown that the genes that influence emotions lie dormant unless triggered by some outside stressor, such as abuse or childhood trauma.

Whatever the cause, the good news about all mood disorders is that they can be managed and, for the most part, controlled without drugs. (We are not against drug therapy; there are people who do well on antidepressants or medications to control manic depression or anxiety. These pharmaceuticals, however, are grossly over-prescribed and many have toxic side effects. In addition, they can be highly addictive and may only work for a limited number of people. Antidepressants, for example, help about 50% of people at best.)

Here are a few things that you can immediately begin to do to control your moods.

Realize that your moods are not your fault. You can’t help being depressed or anxious (or both since the one is merely the neurochemical flip-side of the other and sometime they rotate). You did not choose to be depressed and you can’t turn the mood off just because other people find it inconvenient to be around you when you’re down.

Discover the root cause of the problem. (You may need some help either from a professional therapist or from a friend that you really trust.) The child within is angry, anxious or depressed about something. Almost all ongoing mood disorders have their origins in childhood stresses. Some of the most common are: parental divorce, fear of abandonment, parental alcoholism, criticism and, of course, verbal, physical and sexual abuse. The incidence of childhood abuse in the U.S. has increased 70% over the last thirty years.

Discovering the source of your problems is not a “blame game.” Parents mostly do their best under difficult circumstances. Nor is it an attempt to get at “hidden” memories that can be “recovered.” You can usually deduce what happened in your childhood from the pattern of your relationships in later life. If you gravitate toward people who don’t praise you or who criticize you, then you can be fairly sure that criticism or lack of praise was a feature of your childhood home, even if you’ve forgotten the actual incidents. There’s an old saying that we “only marry our mother, our father or both.” There’s a lot of truth to that – especially if you broaden it to include all the significant adults in your early life, bearing in mind that to a four-year-old, a five-year-old is an adult.

Identify the triggers in the present situation that are provoking the inner child to become anxious, depressed or angry. Linda’s anger was provoked by Paul’s depression, because when her father got down about anything he lashed out at her. Her rage was at the abuse. At these times, in her unconscious mind, Paul became her father. The trigger for Paul’s depression was his feeling that whatever he did for Linda was never enough; there seemed no praise, no recognition for his efforts. Just like home.

Ask yourself (perhaps along with your friend or therapist): “What about this situation reminds me of the past?” Sometimes the trigger can be very small: a tone of voice, the clothes someone wears, an implied criticism, a raised hand, an unexpected touch or a demand for sexual intimacy when you’re not ready.

Work out how you can avoid these triggers. Of course, you can’t ask somebody to change his or her mood. You can, however, tell others what you need them to do in order to avoid situations that provoke or trigger you. These “needs” must be very specific and describe actions rather than feelings or thoughts. Otherwise, people won’t be sure what you want them to do. One of Paul’s needs of Linda was, “I need you to praise me when you think I’ve done something right.” One of hers was, “I need you to tell me what is bothering you and talk to me about it.”

Relationships are all about giving and receiving needs. They go astray when we’re forced to second-guess what is required of us. Mood disorders are the result of relationships gone wrong in childhood and can be corrected by relationships that go right.

Both Linda and Paul agreed to take the necessary steps to save the relationship – and help each other manage their mood disorders – by recognizing each other’s triggers and devising concrete actions they could take to avoid them.

The important thing to remember is that you can’t change yourself, by yourself. Despite what pop-psychology and many self-help books tell you, there’s no mechanism in our brain for self-improvement. Human beings are social animals; we learn by observing and reacting to others. You learn how to form relationships by the way your parents (or other significant adults) related. You learn parenting skills in the same way.

But we can also change our moods and our behaviors by changing the basis of our relationships in all aspects of our lives. By basing our relationships on our concrete, doable and action-oriented needs, we undo the “programming” of the past and become the people we were meant to be.

We can’t always control our moods, but we can teach others to help us to do so. That’s the human way.