Julie Fast’s Health Cards will be out in a new addition in the Fall. Julie is taking a break from social media until August 1st so she can work on her updates to the Health Cards. I am so excited that this tool will be updated and available for people with bipolar. I have used them since 2004, and they have helped me to recognize symptoms of bipolar, even the subtle attributes that accompany mania, depression, anxiety, paranoia, irritability, obsession and more. I look forward to purchasing the new addition!

Just last week I searched through the health cards after realizing something was “off.” I had some mild features of hypomania, which my mother and husband helped me identify, and I was spending an inordinate amount of time thinking about topics that would loop in my brain. I was talking about them, and writing about them, even dreaming about them, but I couldn’t see it as obsession while I was in the midst of it.

When I looked at the Health Cards for different symptoms, obsession described my symptoms accurately. And the great thing about the Health Cards is that it has a column for what you can do to combat the mood, and a column for what others can do to help you. So I have been following the Health Card recommendations and it has helped a great deal.

Some of the best advice in the Health Cards under obsession: “Do something active to break the obsessive pattern,” and “Get firm with myself and tell myself to stop.” And my favorite: “Remind myself this is bipolar and I don’t have to act on the thoughts…do something creative…” so drawing and writing will be my go to adventures this week!