Self-Care for Hypomanic Episodes

For years I have been honing this list of strategies that work for me when I have episodes. Is it perfect? No. Does it help? Absolutely. Will your mileage vary? Heck yeah. Will the suggestions only work if you actually implement them? Um, yes.

Also, none of these are easy.

Self-Care Strategies for Hypomania

Tell somebody what’s going on. Verbalizing it makes it real.

Stick to the routine. The routine will keep you in touch with your baseline, even if you’re flailing far above it. It can also keep you from doing spontaneous nonsense that leads to bad decisions.

Avoid caffeine and alcohol. Easier said than done, but so important if you don’t want to exacerbate an already explosive situation.

Avoid stressors. Put shit off. Don’t answer the aggravating calls. Let it go, for now.

Stay offline. See #4.

Don’t make any big decisions. Hypomania is all about making BIG TERRIBLE decisions. Sleep on it, write it down, ask someone you trust about it and believe them, change direction/distract yourself. Come back to it when you’re more grounded.

Be aware of unrealistic thinking. This is CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy). Watch for all or nothing thinking, perfectionism, jumping to conclusions, false time pressure, grandiosity. Mindfulness training on baseline days will help here.

Take a benzo. If it gets unmanageable, we have to do whatever needs to be done to restrain ourselves. If you have a prescription for this purpose, take it. If you have someone you can call to be with you, call. Don’t wait until the damage is done. Better a few days in a fog than creating permanently scarred relationships, employment histories, bank accounts, etc.

Have an emergency plan. If you start to lose your grip on reality, experience paranoia, delusions, hallucinations, or have suicidal ideation, have a plan. Do not blow it off even for a little bit. This is an emergency no matter how often it happens.

Have a list of contacts and use it. Include someone who can come sit with you or who will stay in a chat with you; your psychiatrist’s number and answering service number; your therapist; and crisis hotline numbers (more than one in case you encounter busy signals or long holds). Use your support system. They want to help you.

Nearly every entry here could be its own post and probably will be one day (like this one about alcohol), but for now we move on to Self-Care for Bipolar Depression.

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