Bipolar Bicoastal

We continue following the rules laid out in Ellen Forney's self- help book for bipolar people, Rock Steady, and have some surprising (and not so surprising) revelations! Anna cries during a meditation practice, Maria gets an out of the blue text and we both have trouble sticking the landing on routines. PLUS, next week we interview Ellen Forney, the author of Rock Steady! Please send us any questions you have for her, whether it be about living with bipolar disorder, questions about her books or what it's like to be a bipolar icon! Questions can be submitted by noon Friday 9/25 @ [email protected], facebook.com/bipolarbicoastal and instagram.com/bipolarbicoastal. Plus, for more exclusive content, subscribe to our patreon at patreon.com/bipolarbicoastal.

This week is the first part of our 3 part series where we follow Ellen Forney's Rock Steady: Brilliant Advice from My Bipolar Life and the SMEDMERTS process of managing bipolar disorder she created. Maria practices mindfulness and a new breathing exercise, Anna tries (and fails) at going to sleep early but gets herself out of a funk. Plus A HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT about the finale of this series! 

Hey, how are you doing? We're doing...fine. After 6 months of self-isolating, we thought we'd do a little check in and share what has (and hasn't) been working to keep the depression at bay. 

References:

https://yogawithadriene.com/

Rock Steady by Ellen Forney

Emergency Session: Weight Shaming

Aztec Clay Mask

patreon.com/bipolarbicoastal

facebook.com/bipolarbicoastal

instagram.com/bipolarbicoastal

Abolition, a concept that has been popularized by the BLM movement, has far reaching consequences, even for those outside of the prison system. How does it relate to the mentally ill? What are the goals of the movement? Why did Anna have to cut her camping trip short last weekend? We answer all these questions and more!

Sources:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6313241/

https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/deinstitutionalization-people-mental-illness-causes-and-consequences/2013-10

https://www.theannainstitute.org/Patients%20rpts%20of%20trauma%20or%20harm%20in%20psychiatric%20setting.pdf

https://www.mentalhealth.gov/basics/mental-health-myths-facts

https://www.8toabolition.com/resources

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/07/16/891438605/psychiatrist-americas-extremely-punitive-prisons-make-mental-illness-worse

https://www.npr.org/2020/06/30/885550145/1a-across-america-unpolicing-mental-illness

Instagram: @projectlets

https://manifold.umn.edu/read/9d8568cb-4a79-4561-bb45-40697746407b/section/502f723e-4632-464e-b1fc-ca97870fd2cd

We're rebroadcasting one of our most popular episodes this week, "Anna's Diagnosis Story," with a new intro explaining why we're replaying this episode and prepping you for our episode next week on abolition and de-instituionalization (aka getting people out of psych wards and into community care). We know we have some new listeners so if you're looking for more context as to why we started this podcast as well as honestly a really juicy story, this will be a start!

CW: police violence

Come eavesdrop on Gwen Kokes, Emi and us talking about queerness, mental illness, therapy and Emi's meme page! There's a Bipolar Bicoastal exclusive, Gwen talks about how becoming a better person has helped her relationship and Emi and I breakdown our friendship. Subscribe to our Patreon (patreon.com/bipolarbicoastal) to hear us play two fun game shows, break down the woman screaming/cat meme (picture in comments) and discuss reality shows' social responsibility!

The end of the conversation with Maddy! We talk about how hard it is parsing out your personality from your mental illness, Maddy's decision to start writing about her OCD and, of course, Zac Efron. Also, her biggest OCD pet peeves (we're looking at you "I'm so OCD!")

Book Recommendation: 
Turtles All the Way Down- John Green

Anna and Maria discuss the controversy surrounding Kanye, whether it's okay to use your mental illness as an excuse and why they've been avoiding this episode. Plus, a very exciting announcement!

patreon.com/bipolarbicoastal 

Articles:

https://tinyurl.com/ycht2ubb

https://tinyurl.com/y37quqkw

Anna and Maria branch into exploring another commonly misunderstood mental illness, OCD, by interviewing their best friend from high school and OCD icon Maddy Agar, and have all of their misconceptions about the disorder shattered. Turns out, it's not all washing your hands and touching door knobs! Instead, Maddy takes us on the harrowing journey of losing control over your thoughts, to the point where you don't know whether or not you murdered someone. Content Warning: Suicidal Ideation

Maddy's Writing: https://maddyagar1.wixsite.com/doubtlessmotherhood