When two conditions occur simultaneously, that state is known as comorbidity. Bipolar disorder with comorbid anxiety presents an even greater problem than bipolar disorder or anxiety alone. A landmark study known as STEP-BD shows that people with bipolar disorder and anxiety seem to have a harder time functioning, longer depressive episodes, and may be at greater risk for suicide. When you feel overwhelmed with anxiety, dealing with the effects of your bipolar disorder can feel impossible. Taking steps to treat your anxiety is vital to your recovery and functioning.
Instructions
1. Establish a partnership with your psychiatrist on the medical aspects of your treatment. Work together to figure out what helps and what doesn't. Medications differ in their ability to help symptoms of anxiety and some may even make anxiety worse. You might need to change medications, or add another medication. Antipsychotics might also be helpful. It may be necessary to add an antianxiety medication. Stick with it; it may take a while to find the right combination of medications.
2. While all forms of psychotherapy may help during recovery, cognitive behavioral therapy, which helps you reframe thinking and find solutions to maladaptive behaviors, is a very effective and comparatively quick treatment for anxiety. Work hard in therapy to learn to cope with your anxious thoughts and figure out deal with stressors.
3. Consider mindfulness meditation. Doctors at Massachussetts General Hospital discovered that an eight-week course in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, while making participants feel less stressed, also changed the amygdala, a part of the brain involved in stress. Once you learn this simple form of meditation, you can take a mindfulness break anytime you feel anxious.
4. Begin an exercise routine. Exercise improves both the depressive and anxious aspects of bipolar disorder and lifts mood in general. Any form of moderate aerobic exercise may relieve anxiety for up to six hours, and lead to less anxiety over the long term.
5. Get support from others. Talking with friends or attending a support group can help you learn other coping strategies. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, offers support groups as well as a recovery education program called Peer to Peer that provides a wealth of information about mental illness as well as information about coping mechanisms and an introduction to mindfulness meditation.
6. Investigate other forms of stress reduction. Massage and acupuncture may help and have few, if any, negative effects. Insurance may even cover these. Many other methods can be done on your own; you can learn these from a workbook on anxiety reduction such as "The Relaxation and Stress Reduction Workbook".
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