How to Cope With Someone Who Is Manic Depressive

Video Transcript

"I'm Dr. David Thomas. I'm a practicing psychotherapist with The Whitford-Thomas Group in Tampa, Florida here to discuss how to cope with someone who has manic depression. Manic depression today is referred to as Bipolar Disorder. Manic Depression though nicely describes the disorder because it is a mood disorder and the manic side or the mania side is an elevated mood and in this elevated mood you often times see kind of an inflated sense of self kind of a grandiosity, a lot of creativity often times occurs in this state. People feel like they can do a lot, walk on water so to speak. In this manic state and unfortunately in a more manic state people will begin to engage in fairly high risk behaviors whether drinking, drugging, a lot of indiscretion regarding sexual practices. So the mania piece in a hypomania which is a less severe state can be a pretty nice state for folks. They are fairly motivated, high energy, don't need a lot of sleep, creative and all that and in a more severe state you tend to get a lot more of these very destructive behaviors. The depression, the state of manic depression is not much different than any other type of depression, a sense of hopelessness, a sense of helplessness, low fatigue, low energy, almost the opposite of a manic state but in this state people tend to kind of lose interest in a lot of pleasurable activities be it things avocational interests that they liked, sexual activity, it doesn't really matter what the loss of pleasure is. So you have a manic state and a depressed state. So how do you cope with folks who are experiencing manic depression? 1) Educate yourself. Better understand what manic depression is. Certainly assist them to seek out treatment. In this case really a psychiatrist for the medication and a psychotherapist who practices cognitive behavior psychotherapy for the therapy component. Be patient, be understanding, compassionate. Boundaries are important when dealing with people who are manic depressive because they tend to what I call often times are Nugent, they tend to kind of be in your face so to speak and having trouble with boundaries. But do understand that it is a disorder and a lot f what they do is difficult for them to manage. Well hopefully I have provided some helpful information regarding how to cope with individuals folks and manic depression. From sunny Tampa, Florida, I'm Dr. David Thomas."