TRAUMA MINIMIZATION

GRIEF AND LOSS
When individual experience mood swings it disrupt their functioning so gravely that they are no longer able to complete college courses or carry on in their employment. This unexpected restriction not only affects their immediate activities, but also changes their career prospect and the future course of their lives. Many who have had such an experience feel they have become different people, and grieve for their lost selves, the people they used to be .This is both common and understandable. This experience can be compared with bereavement, and are compounded by the very real losses that can be associated with having a significant mental health problem, such as loss of income and status. Others find that there are major tensions in their personal lives, sometimes leading to the breakup of important relationships. 

If these things happen to you, there is no benefit in trying to underplay the difficulties created by your recurrent mood swings. You will need time to recover from your disappointments. To adjust to your new situation, and to move forward. 

KEY STEPS WILL HELP YOU TO BEGIN WITH COPING PROCESS 

- Try to be clear about which problems are genuinely related to mood swings. As with any grief reaction, the real losses will take time to come to terms with. Don't complicate the process by over generalizing and attributing every negative event in your life to your mood disorder. 

- Avoid focusing on the “unfairness" of life. Life certainly is unfair in many ways , but it is unhelpful to spend too much time concentrating on something you can't change . Preoccupation with what has already occurred may simply feed your anger and prevent you implementing strategies that help you move forward 

- Don’t pretend it hasn't happened. Avoidance of this kind is likely simply to store up problems for the kind is likely simply to store up problems for the future. At some point you will have examine what has happened, and what you can do to improve your situation. The problems will not disappear if you ignore them 

- Another way of avoiding the reality is to label yourself as the “illness”. For example, avoid introducing yourself as “I am a manic depressive". Don’t deny the problem, but try to remember that there is more to your identity than a mood disorder. Sometimes you will need to remind yourself of this, and it is important to make others aware of it as well 

It is important to replace an unrealistic existence with a realistic one. However like an addiction to a drug, your highs will not be easy to give up simply because it seems as a sensible idea. You might try to reduce your dependency on highs by using a step- by – step approach similar to  “ human reduction “ programme , making a gradual change to the degree of  upswing in your mood that are acceptable or the agreed boundary between your normal or abnormal state . You have give attention to how to compensate for the loss of this experience from your life. Like what action you should take that will give you positive feeling about yourself? Try to ask question within yourself and you will get all the answers to your question within your mind.