December 27, 2018   •   Volume 11, Issue 52
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Taming Obsessive Thoughts as We Look to the New Year

Don’t let the “what-ifs” get in the way of living your best life. Especially now, on the brink of a new year, it’s time to put Obsessive Thoughts in their place when it comes to the future.

The first step is accepting how your brain is wired, says registered psychotherapist Felisa Shizgal, MEd, RP. She suggests reminding yourself that obsessive thoughts “are a part of me, not all of me,” as a healthy way to recognize their presence in your life without getting overwhelmed.

Maybe it helps to know that 94 percent of the population experiences obsessive thoughts in some form at some time. That’s according to research by Concordia University and 15 other universities worldwide.

Of course, bipolar brings obsessive thoughts into the picture more often. But if you learn some tools to combat them, 2019 will start looking like a year full of potential and hope.

Start by naming and investigating the obsessive thought. Is it true? Can you prove that it’s true?

Then use a mantra, whether it’s a powerful “Stop!” or a more gentle “This will pass.”

Or think about Newton’s third law of motion—for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction—and translate it to “for every thought, there is an equal and opposite thought,” advises Robert London, MD.

All of these steps lessen the chance you’ll get mired in obsessive thinking that fails to recognize how resilient you can be.

bpHope blogger Jasper Benitez is working on that resilience: “I have learned that I need to be very aware of my tendency to overthink, because often I have created problems that did not actually exist due to my perceived visions of the future.” Read more >>

The Way We Breathe Affects Memory

October 22, 2018, Stockholm, Sweden—Breathing through the nose rather than the mouth helps us reinforce and stabilize our memories, according to new research.

The study shows that people remember smells better if they breathe through the nose when the memory is being consolidated—the process that takes place between learning and memory retrieval.

One reason why this phenomenon has not previously been studied is that the most common laboratory animals—rats and mice—are unable to breathe naturally through their mouths.

“The next step is to measure what actually happens in the brain during breathing and how this is linked to memory,” says Artin Arshamian, a researcher at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. Read more >>

Sober Consideration: Bipolar, Alcohol & the Decision to Drink

The standard advice about drinking when you have bipolar is to avoid alcohol altogether. Is moderate drinking ever a good idea? Some things to ponder.

By Donna Jackel

You walk into a social gathering and see that most of the guests have a drink in hand. So you grab a beer, too—maybe to calm your nerves before you mingle, maybe to join the festive atmosphere, maybe even to get a buzz going.

That common scenario gets more complicated when you have bipolar disorder.

“We tend to look at alcohol as a beverage, but it is a drug,” says Beth Letterman, a substance abuse counselor in North Carolina. “Alcohol can cause someone to be elated or depressed. If they are down, they will go lower. If they are high, they’ll go higher.” Read more >>