Support Groups

As others are speaking please be attentive and non-disruptive. Resist the impulse to jump in with your own experience or questions. This is THEIR time, if they want input they’ll ask for it. When it’s your turn you can take your time to ask questions or give input to others. This brings about another important rule: Be very careful giving advice. The word “should” does not exist in this setting. If you want to share an experience, say something; like “when this happened to me I found…” Never tell people they “should” do this, or “should” do that. Put it in terms of yourself. “I discovered…”, or “what has worked for me is…”

Keep it on track. Give the details that are relevant to your condition and your life. Others may disagree with this, as bipolar disorder does impact every part of our day-to-day lives. But sharing with the group minutiae will cause others to lose interest. The point is to keep it relevant and meaningful. So if it was significant to you, share it. You might mention that you changed your meds and have been sleeping more due to the change. You might talk about missing work due to depression, or your struggle to avoid self-medication in the face of increasing mania. If you have been suicidal, it is absolutely appropriate to mention it. But please avoid details that might serve to fuel ideas in others. Don’t worry about emotion, it will happen regularly. If the tears come, it’s only normal. It’s happened to all of us before, and will happen again. The release you get from this will be therapeutic, not only to you but to the group itself.

Other common sense things: Turn your cell phone off or to silent mode, and if you have to take a call leave the room. Keep side conversations to a minimum. Take breaks as a group, don’t sneak off to smoke when others are talking.

And finally when it’s break time, the room will clear in a hurry. Bipolars are notorious smokers. Even if you’re not a smoker, go out and hang with them – it’s the best socialization there is. That is when friendships are formed.

Do you have any input on support groups? Let’s talk about it in the Message Boards.