Friday, February 18, 2011

Bipolar - Low Moods


A trick I picked up to re-tone my low moods?

Apparently its to do with the two hundred or so muscles in my face and their feedback to my brain.

Put a pencil between your teeth and hold it without letting your lips touch it for one minute.

Be mindful of and try to track sensation changes in your body.

When feeling depressed do the same thing while listening to music like this:


As a guarded intellectual I reacted to my first experience of this kind of exercise sceptically, dismissing it as silly and stupid, later I realized I'd had a fear of my own sensations, a fear that had kept me trapped in my head unable to fully appreciate my own life.

Is Trauma an underlying cause of some Bipolar Symptoms?

Listen to the brilliant Oliver Sacks talk about music and its power to 'affect' people:


What is the 'affect' in affective disorders?

P.S. Obviously I don't add the music when I'm already very happy, always mindful of triggers into mania.
Adding music to the exercise has helped lift me out of low moods in the past though.