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Psychology for bipolar disorder

How to be happy with bipolar disorder? Ask this guy...

albert ellis
Albert Ellis
Albert Ellis is credited with inventing a system of psychology that people can learn themselves. Ellis teaches us that it isn't external events (dog dies, lover leaves etc) that make us feel sad.Rather, it's our 'crummy thinking' that upsets us.When bipolar disorder wrecks your life, your relationship, your education, your job, and your accommodation, Ellis says you can make yourself happy by the way you think.

Rational Emotive Therapy (RET)

RET is the title Ellis gave his work. It's as straightforward as A, B, C.A is the Activating event (dog dies)B is the Belief that you repeat in your mind (Dog was my only friend and he shouldn't have died so young)C is the Consequence you bring on yourself (you feel miserable, don't go out for walks, cancel social engagements, repeat to everyone how unfair it is that Dog died, take to your bed, eat lots of ice-cream etc).

Tip your thinking on its head!

Following Albert Ellis, we can turn around this thinking. A is the Activating event (dog dies)B is a new Belief (what a great companion Dog was, how I love to recall the times when he would swim in the river etc).C is the new Consequence. You are appropriately sad for a time; you call the friends who particularly liked Dog and arrange a funeral and a meal together afterwards. In a month or so you investigate getting a new dog.

RET and Bipolar Disorder

People with bipolar disorder and their partners and housemates do tend to upset themselves unnecessarily by things that occur as a result of bioplar.You can turn your thinking around as simply as A, B, C. Albert Ellis has written many books, and inspired many others, from which you can literally learn how to think!Bipolar and the Art of Roller-coaster Riding by Madeleine Kelly is based on that constructive thinking, and devotes a chapter to applying RET to bipolar disorder.

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Last modified 27 January 2008

This page was written and published by Madeleine Kelly, a bipolar sufferer who underwent undergraduate medical training (University of Melbourne) and who is the author of Bipolar and the Art of Roller-coaster Riding.

Questions or problems regarding this web site should be directed to Publisher at TwoTreesMedia dot com.

This site and the book Bipolar and the Art of Roller-coaster Riding, the 2nd edition of Life on a Roller-coaster - living well with depression and manic depression contain the opinions and ideas of the author, Madeleine Kelly. The site and the book are intended to provide helpful and informative material on the subjects addressed. The book is sold with the understanding that the author is not engaged in rendering medical, health, or any other kind of professional services in the book. The reader should consult his or her medical, health, or other competent professional before adopting any of the suggestions in the book or this site or drawing inferences therefrom. The author and publisher disclaim all responsibility for any liability, loss, or risk, personal or otherwise, which is incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents of this book or site.