My thermostat is stuck

Julie sent me this link the other day, from the book Take Charge of Bipolar Disorder; A 4-Step Plan for You and Your Loved Ones to Manage the Illness and Create Lasting Stability by Julie A Fast and John Preston.

From the You Are Not Alone website:

The problem for people with bipolar disorder is that the thermostat in the brain doesn’t always do its job correctly. Medical research has clearly documented that bipolar disorder involves a biologically based impaired ability to effectively regulate intense emotions – just like a broken thermostat that can’t monitor the temperature correctly. There is nothing wrong with you psychologically; instead, there is something wrong with your brain’s neurochemistry.

Your Brain Is Very Sensitive

Because your brain doesn’t function as a normal brain should, outside events and your own behaviors can lead to serious mood swings. Sleep deprivation or disruption is a notorious trigger for bipolar mood swings, as are other factors that can significantly alter hormonal functioning and brain chemistry. Stressful life events can provoke shifts into overwhelming states of mania or depression. And even in the absence of specific stressors, abnormal neurochemical functioning in the limbic system can, at times, spontaneously provoke the emergence of intense mood swings, like a thermostat that for no apparent reason turns on the furnace, even though the house is already warm. This explains why you can’t by willpower alone just get a handle on your emotions.

I’ve already ordered the book. I don’t know if there will be any new information there–I’ve done a lot of research in the last 3 years–but this thermostat analogy makes sense to me, as does the statement that sleep disruption can cause problems. I know that’s an issue for me.

But I’m not sure how I feel about the broken metaphor, though. I’m not broken. I’m just dealing with a challenge that most people don’t face, and I’m winning. I go about living my life and working through the things that are difficult for me, just as everyone else does. I’m not defined by my disorder. It’s a part of me, but not the most important part.

Still, I hope this book will give me some helpful tips for staying on top of things. Once I’ve read it I’ll give it a full review.

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