Early Warning System?

We all know the key to surviving catastrophy is to put in an early warning system. With earthquakes, hurricanes and other natural disasters often being picked up before they hit, the people in their path can stock up on tins and baton down the hatches. In theory this should minimise damage and give people the best chance of survival.

This is the same with many mental health problems. The very nature of mental illness is that it will fluctuate. Some find that it follows some kind of pattern or that periods of illness are generally triggered by many things. For some however ill health does seem to come out of the blue.

I came accross a really good guide from the mental health charity Rethink Mental Illness yesterday. It is guide and number of videos on keeping well with bipolar. I liked it because it was pulled together with professionals alongside people with experience of the illness. The key seven things they found were:

•  Spotting early warning signs 
• Looking after your wellbeing 
• Being in control 
• Doing what works for you
• Making decisions about medication 
• Talking to people who really listen 
• Getting support from family and friends

Reading this in my current state made me want to rip it in half but I know that if I read it when I was well then I would probably find it very useful. Mental illness can make you feel like you are incredibly 'out of control' a lot of the time and so finding a way of making sense of it all and wrestling  back a bit of control is really helpful. I actually attended a course recently about 'Managing your bipolar' which was really interesting and insightful, until I actually became ill halfway through the course and then sitting in a room discussing a 'theoretical' feeling of depression was just too much and I had to leave the course. 

I was surprised to find that I do actually have my very own early warning system around me. I have been told by two of my best friends that they could tell I was high over the last few weeks but didn't know what to do. I thought because my mania was quite subtle (i.e. I don't think I can fly or talk really quickly or anything too obvious!) that those around me never notice, but my friends do seem to know me far too well and could see straight through me well before I did. The question is what would I have done about it if this alarm system has sounded? Well I would have told them they were being ridiculous or just ignore them completely, it certainly wouldn't have changed my behaviour. 

I know this is not the right response and I know that if I am serious about taking control of this illness I need to have systems in place including what I should do when I get this invaluable heads up from those around me. But like the threat of rain on a beautiful day it is really hard to be told something bad is going to happen when everything feels so perfect. Imagine you are having a brilliant day and everything is going well, you feel great. Then someone tells you that actually you are ill. Would you believe them?