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This article was originally posted July 4, 2018, and has been updated March 20, 2019.

People around the world suffer from anxiety disorder or bipolar depression. And a lot of them don’t even know it, or how to find treatment. Read our story.

The standards of mental health in the world are notoriously bad these days. In the USA alone, it has been estimated that 40 million adults (over the age of 18) are suffering from an anxiety disorder. Less than half of these anxiety disorder sufferers actually seek the appropriate level of treatment. That includes receiving the attention of a mental health counselor, and therapies directed at anxiety and behavioral health.

Similarly, there has been an increase in the sufferers of bipolar disorder. Bipolar depression affects nearly 6 million Americans alone every year, it is estimated. Both anxiety and bipolar depression can lead the sufferer to exhibit symptoms of abnormal behavioral health to its fullest extremes. That is, even to contemplate, attempt and/or commit suicide.

Identifying the Problem

One of the first steps is understanding the problem from which you suffer. This could be an anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, both, or neither. Know that there are numerous treatments available. We often take our opinions of mental and behavioral health treatments from movies and TV. Padded rooms, circle group discussions, incarceration in hospitals – that’s not reality. Suffering from anxiety and bipolar depression will not require any of those things to make them better.

Writing as a former sufferer from both anxiety and bipolar depression, I will relate to you the steps you need to take to understand what it is you are suffering from. Then, we’ll look at what you can do to help that process along and, eventually, what sort of treatments you can seek.

An anxiety disorder or bipolar disorder is not the sort of thing one should suffer from alone and in silence. Neither of them is truly treatable with medication either, despite what your doctor might tell you. It requires work on the part of the patient.

The real breakthroughs come from talking to people. Those who can either empathize with what you are suffering from or those with the knowledge in that subject area. Or both, as the case may be. It’s not uncommon to find therapists who have suffered from an anxiety disorder or bipolar depression themselves. Some even become therapists because they have suffered from these conditions!

First, DO NOT Self-Diagnose

It may surprise you, but I am not going to list the generic symptoms of either anxiety disorders or bipolar disorder. The main reason for this is that people can exhibit a variety of different anxiety disorder and bipolar disorder symptoms. So, making a diagnosis can prove challenging and is a matter of drawing up an assessment based on facts. It is also so that you are not tempted to diagnose yourself.

Even if you are a practicing doctor, trying to self–diagnose is the worst way to understand what it is you are suffering from. Doctors make bad patients in the same way that lawyers make bad witnesses. It all falls down to what psychologists call “demand characteristics.” It’s a criticism of questionnaires for research purposes. People may prefer to answer in a way that gets them the result they want and/or they deem the most socially acceptable.

Don’t Rely on Online Tests

The same applies when taking these anxiety disorder or bipolar disorder tests online. Believe me – I’ve done it myself numerous times. You fear if you answer honestly, you may not like the result at the end. Nine times out of ten, you will give answers that suggest a milder form of what you’re suffering – denial of a sort. Or you will go the other way, answering the questions in a way that makes you out to be suffering from your behavioral health issue to a more severe level.

Being honest with yourself is the first step to understanding your anxiety disorder or bipolar depression, but self–diagnosing is not the way to do it. If you feel as though you are suffering anxiety or bipolar disorder symptoms, the first thing to do is visit your local medical professional.

Visiting Your Doctor

With the reported rise in behavioral health problems as it is, local doctors will have some degree of understanding when it comes to anxiety and bipolar disorder symptoms. However, the likelihood that they are an expert is slim. So, when you go visit your doctor for a formal diagnosis, expect two things.

Firstly, they will probably prescribe a course of anti-depressants or anti-anxiety medication. People often react to these in different ways, but the side–effects when you first start taking them can often be adverse. This is particularly true of appetite, mood, and some sexual dysfunction. “They will make you feel worse before you feel better…” is the common saying.

Secondly, you’ll need a referral or recommendation to a (hopefully) local mental health expert or authority. This isn’t the part where you go somewhere, get on a couch and say “Well, doctor, it all started when…” Mental and behavioral health care is much more civilized and sensitive to anxiety or bipolar sufferer’s needs and feelings. Most local doctors will give you the name of the authority and the phone number. You, the sufferer, will take it from there.

Different Classifications of Mental Health Specialists for Referral

The key distinction here is to know the difference between specialists. Psychiatrists are medical doctors who prescribe medication. Psychologists engage in talk therapies such as cognitive behavioral therapy. And social workers and other experts teach coping mechanisms, life skills, and strategies for dealing with your disorder. You may be referred to one or more of these specialists by your doctor.

Seeing a Mental Health Specialist

Most treatments these days for anxiety disorders and bipolar depression start with a telephone consultation. Of course, some anxiety disorders stem from a dislike, hatred or even fear of telephone conversation itself. If this is the case with you, merely ask if a face–to–face meeting will be possible instead. The idea is to make you comfortable enough to talk about your problems, so they should be able to oblige you.

If you have chosen to have a telephone consultation, it is best done in a private place since you will have to be honest without exception with the consultant. It doesn’t matter that they are a stranger – in many cases, this should be more helpful since they will offer neutral opinions. We discuss what to do when talking about your anxiety disorder or bipolar depression with family and friends later in the article.

The Importance of Honesty

You will not receive the diagnosis or the correct recommendations or treatments if you are NOT honest with the consultant. So, if your anxiety disorder has made you agoraphobic, so you suffer panic attacks and can’t go to work or even get out of bed sometimes – you MUST tell the consultant this. If your behavioral health has affected personal friendships and familial relationships, you must tell them. And, heaven forbid it should ever get this bad, if your suspected bipolar depression has brought you to contemplate suicide, you must let the consultant know.

Because of the frequency with which anxiety disorders and bipolar depression are being diagnosed and treated these days, there may be waiting lists to receive treatment. If your situation is extreme, such as suicidal ideation, exceptions or further referrals may be made to give you more immediate attention.

Following your chat with the consultant, they will draw up a report and an initial opinion of what it is from which you are suffering. If it is an anxiety disorder, they will tell you. If you are exhibiting bipolar disorder symptoms, they will let you know. From there, they can recommend a course of treatment to suit you and the condition.

Recommended Treatments for Anxiety and Bipolar Depression

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, often shortened to CBT, is one of the best–known and commonly recommended treatments for anxiety disorders and behavioral health issues. This is in part because it is generally a short-term course of treatment. A patient will usually undergo between 8 and 12 sessions with a counselor.

[Side note, if you are searching for this topic, search “cognitive behavioral therapy”. Otherwise, if you have SafeSearch turned off, you’ll be in for some, shall we say unusual and potentially disturbing adult content.]

Within these sessions, the counselor and the patient will identify the root causes of each situation or scenario that causes or has caused an anxiety attack. You’ll also spend time identifying the negative thought processes associated therein. Within the CBT regimen, the counselor will then designate a system of techniques and coping mechanisms to help the patient adjust their reactions. The goal is to turn normally anxious situations into ones that don’t provoke the same anxiety response. In this way, future attacks can be lessened in severity or prevented outright.

CBT has also been recommended to combat bipolar disorder and other forms of depression. In the same way with anxiety disorders, the therapist will identify why the client experiences these depressive episodes. They’ll then help them look at the offending scenarios in a more positive or, at least, clearer light.

Hypnotherapy

Now, don’t stop reading and think we advocate the use of pendulums and people saying, “You are feeling very sleepy.” Or that they then make people run around the room behaving like an animal of their choosing. That outdated hypnotism cliché doesn’t exist anymore outside of shows and entertainment – certainly not in medicine.

Hypnotherapy is actually a proven effective method to combat both anxiety and bipolar depression. I should know since it was what I had.

Despite it identifying as “alternative medicine,” the therapy side follows a similar course as CBT. In that, the patient identifies, with the therapist’s help, the causes and scenarios that exacerbate their anxiety disorder or bipolar disorder. Then, they are taught techniques for coping. The hypnotherapy can almost let you demonstrate your understanding of those techniques and acting them out to yourself, usually lying down with your eyes closed.

It is as effective a stress–relieving and relaxing experience as much as it is a treatment for anxiety and bipolar depression.

With both anxiety disorders and bipolar depression come a number of other unhelpful and unhealthy experiences. Raised stress levels, difficulty with social situations (with both family and friends), negative thought processes and self–bullying.

Where CBT deals with the roots of the situations that cause the anxiety and/or bipolar depression, mindfulness techniques and therapy help the patient handle these other branches. It’s a series of skills the therapist will teach the patient in an attempt to bring them down to living in the present moment.

A lot of depression and anxiety disorders can stem from either despair about the future or remaining locked in the past. Or both. By teaching a sufferer to preoccupy themselves with the present and only the present, it should lead them to deal with their stressors better at home and at work. To look at situations and themselves in more positive lights. And most importantly of all, allow them the time to consider and choose which way they want to think about a situation.

Be Aware (But Beware) of Your Friends and Family’s Opinions

Having friends or family to talk to about your problems is good up until a point. But their views about your anxiety or bipolar disorder will be biased. And, their approach to how you should proceed may not be best for you, despite their intentions. They may be too sympathetic or, by contrast, not sympathetic enough – adopting a “tough love” attitude. After all, they are not medical experts, and even if they are, they aren’t treating you as a patient. They can’t – doctors aren’t supposed to formally treat loved ones, because of that inherent bias.

Diagnosis and Treatment Challenges

I knew I was suffering at least some bipolar disorder symptoms from as early as age 14. But, it was only when I started studying psychology that I recognized I was suffering from anxiety as well. It took five years and a number of depressive episodes and fluctuations in my behavioral health to get myself formally diagnosed and treated.

The authority to which I was referred had a waiting list and could only offer me stress management classes as treatment. That really wasn’t appropriate at all for what I was suffering from. Instead, he recommended me to a private hypnotherapist, the same one who had treated him for his anxiety disorder.

The Best Role for Friends and Family

That is the sort of help you can trust from your friends and family. If they have suffered the same or similar conditions (having received formal diagnoses for anxiety disorders and bipolar disorder only; don’t take self–diagnosed opinions), then at least they can recommend actions off the back of their own experiences. At the very least they can offer you non-judgmental support and unconditional love.

DON’T FORGET TO BUY…

The Anti-Anxiety Food Solution by Trudy Scott

Suffering from an anxiety disorder or bipolar depression can turn our mind towards food and eating for comfort. With this book, at least it will be the right kinds of food.

Anti-Anxiety Meditation Music

For when the stressors get a little too intense, and you need to just let go for ten minutes. Just lie back, and relax with these tracks.

The Mindfulness Journal

If you’ve undertaken mindfulness as a treatment for your anxiety, know that you’re going to do a lot of writing. But the more the better – writing by hand exercises the same part of the brain that deals with stress and anxiety. What better reason to buy this mindfulness journal for keeping track of everything you’re learning during your sessions?

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