Bipolar? Don't Compare Yourself to Others

One thing I see alot of people with bipolar disorder do is compare themselves to other people, both those with the disorder and those without it. In my opinion, you're only hurting yourself if you do that.

A great person said, "for always there will be greater and lesser people than you." So if you compare yourself to them, sometimes you may find yourself lacking, and sometimes you may find yourself better than them (which may give you a bigger head than you deserve and, in our case, can even lead to mania).

Take for instance this most recent case with Charlie Sheen and all this publicity and rumors over whether his bizarre behavior is related to bipolar disorder or not.

If you compare yourself to Charlie Sheen, you might find some similarities. Does that make you like him? Or better or worse than him?

It makes it hard to get along with other people when you compare yourself to them. Again, as with the analogy with Charlie Sheen. You may ask yourself are you better or worse than the person? And this can make for a strained relationship, especially if it is a close one.

In a close interpersonal relationship, if you think you are better (or smarter, etc.) than the person with whom you are involved, you can inadvertently make them feel "less than," or "not as good as" you. This can strain the relationship, or even lead to a breakup. All because you are comparing yourself to them.

The worst case scenario is people with bipolar disorder who compare themselves to people without the disorder and find themselves lacking, which can send them into a depression, thinking things like, "I'll never be normal. I'll always be sick. Things will always be like this, they'll never get better."

And this type of thinking can really discourage you, or even send you into a bipolar depressive episode. Maybe even keep you there for a long time (or, at least, unti you change your thinking and/or stop comparing yourself to others).

Some people with bipolar disorder compare themselves to others with the disorder and also find themselves lacking, and the same scenario can happen.

Or...they compare themselves to others with the disorder and can think, "Well, at least I'm not as bad as HE is!" which can be dangerous thinking, because you can get complacent and stop watching for signs and symptoms of a bipolar episode, and the next thing you know, you're in one!

The best thing you can do is just to worry about yourself. Don't compare yourself to anyone else, good or bad, and just take care of yourself. If anything, compare yourself to how you were doing a year ago - are you doing better or worse? Then make changes accordingly.

If you look back and see that you're doing better than you were a year ago, then kudos to you! That's great! If you're not, then you may have to change some things you're doing to manage your disorder, or step them up a bit, so that you can get better.

The main thing to remember is there is no competition here. The only one you should compare yourself to is YOU.

Wishing you peace and stability,

Don't forget to check out my bipolar book at: www.brokenroseministries.com

Remember God loves you and so do I,

Michele