Stable Roles, Relationships and Routines...

help maintain the gains in mood

for patients with anxiety, depression and bipolar mood swings

New chart by Dr. Harris Jensen helps to chart your progress

by Harris Jensen, MD

It may seem odd to some, but skipping breakfast isn't good for you, nor is "holing up" in your home when you're stressed out--a common thing for people to do nowdays, with the economic recession wreaking havoc in people's heads, whether they are employed or not.

What researchers have found is people are better able to keep their wits about them if they keep to their daily routines and keep their relationships warm and supportive.  Avoid unnecessary drama,  Focus of the rewarding feelings of being there for your friends and family, having a steady and active daily life doing the things that keep you "in the game", in the game of life as it were.

You hear people talk about how, in a mild way, that were not "on top of their game" when they missed breakfast, skipped that mid morning snack and coffee in the break room, just went a month without talking to their best friend, or didn't talk to anyone all weekend after getting stressed out over some bill in the mail.

Stick to your routine, says Ellen Frank, in her book, "Treating Bipolar Disorder," and in several research articles she has published.  To read more about social rhythm interpersonal therapy, see her book: Treating Bipolar Disorder: A Clinician's Guide To Interpersonal and Social Rhythm Therapy," Ellen Frank, The Guilford Press, New York, 2005.

The routine helps your brain "keep time" because our comfortable routines are "time keepers" for our brain.  They help the brain stay active and healthy, anticipating challenges, gearing up for them, and thriving with them.  At the same time, focus on keeping personal interactions healthy.  Avoid being avoidant or passive, just sitting there while friends chat away about idle chit chat in the break room at work.  Get in the fray!  Speak up!  Actively listen.  Be involved in the lives of your friends in a healthy way, supporting them, and allowing yourself to be supported.  Stay focused on what works for the relationship, feeling close to them and letting them feel close to you.

It doesn't just feel good, it's good for your brain.  In a landmark research article, Frank and collegues showed that over a two year period, staying with your routine and supportive relationships actually blocked mood swings in patients suffering bipolar I disorder.

In case you didn't know, bipolar I disorder, or manic depressive illness, is one of the most difficult illnesses psychiatrists treat.  New medicines that actually block mood swings cost drug companies about $200 million to develop.

Frank showed social rhythm interpersonal therapy did what some medicines do for bipolar disorder: make a measurable decrease in the occurrance of mood swings.

To read this article, click Social Rhythm Interpersonal Therapy.

At the bottom of this article is a social rhythm and interpersonal therapy chart, so you can chart your progress if you want to work on "stabilizing" your routines and relationships that you keep as you go about your "roles" in life.  By roles I mean the accomplishments you have as a student, son, daughter, husband, wife, father, mother, professional, etc.

Try it out!  I think it may actually help people achieve more success in managment of social anxiety, depression, attention deficit disorder, over eating, alcoholism, other addictions...but these have not been well studied.

One study did document what psychiatrists hear about almost every day they pradtice: that stressful events disrupt a person's daily life and lead to major depressive mood swings, with bipolar disorder or major depression.  For more on this, click disruption.

HJ