1. Accept Yourself, Accept Your Diagnosis
We’ll begin by taking an inventory of what you love about yourself and what you find challenging. Perhaps you value your creativity, empathy, and resilience, but find intrusive thoughts, low motivation, and mood swings distressing.
By looking at your list through the lens of your diagnosis, you identify how your mood disorder complicates – and perhaps also enhances – your day-to-day life. We analyze this first to distinguish you from your symptoms.
As you learn to recognize the difference, you’ll begin to shift your mindset from “I’m broken” to “I’m an amazing, successful person who just happens to live with a mood disorder.”
2. Build a Routine Around Your Challenges
Consistent routine is vital for those of us with mood disorders because a lack of structure can cause mood cycles. Maybe some mornings you wake up feeling like someone just drenched you with a bucket of liquid depression. When this happens, relying on habit can get you out of bed.
To make this a reality for you, we’ll establish a stable base routine, then break it down into large phases and small action steps. The resulting plan will allow you to adopt your routine gradually.
Imagine the time and anxiety you’ll save by relying on a steady routine instead of nagging yourself about every daily task.
3. Customize Your Coping Skills Toolbox
In this phase, we’ll comb through past experiences and current patterns to identify your triggers for mood cycles. After that, we’ll go even deeper to pinpoint your internal warning signs and ingrained responses.
Our goal is to identify the coping tools you already use, then build a collection of new skills to fill any gaps. There will be lots of techniques for you to try on so that the next time you start sliding into an episode, you’ll be better prepared to respond.
Picture yourself with the skills to adjust your thoughts so you have a quiet night — both inside and outside your head.
4. Connect with Friends Who Get It
Maybe you’ve found yourself struggling to explain to your best friend why it’s impossible to “look on the bright side.” Part of the pain of mood disorders is that those who don’t live with one often don’t –or can’t– understand what happens inside our heads.
Because talking with someone who also lives with a mood disorder can be a huge relief, we’ll brainstorm ways for you to connect. You’ll create an action plan and begin building a support crew for mood navigation.
Next time your mood begins to tank, your trusted “reality check” friends will recognize your state and help you hold steady.
5. Grow Confident in Supporting Yourself
We begin this phase by recognizing and celebrating your success! You’ll have developed integrated routines to reduce the depth of your mood swings; established new mindsets so you can slow your thoughts and think clearly; and connected with friends who support and empathize.
You might still have days when you don’t follow your routine or forget your new tools, but you’ll get better and better at using your skills and relying on your team.
Imagine a life where depression and bipolar disorders no longer feel daunting. Armed with your personal coping strategy, you’ll wake up each day feeling more emotionally stable and less alone.
Each stage of Mood Ordering can take one session or multiple sessions, depending on your unique circumstances. We’ll focus each discussion where you need it most. Because it’s hard to learn and apply new life management tools in a single session, I offer Mood Ordering in 3-session sets.
Book your free introductory session. If working together feels like a good fit, then book your first 3-session package. We’ll schedule these sessions 1-2 weeks apart, but definitely within 2 months, so you keep moving forward. Buy as many 3-session packages as you want and need.
