Getting help

Wellbeing plans

It's just as important to take positive measures to stay well as it is to seek treatment when you're unwell.

Below we list some things that are important for general mental well-being - and many are also important for physical well-being.

If you have other suggestions on ways of staying well, please feel free to share them with us and we'll add them to our list.

The documents on this page can be downloaded and printed using Adobe Acrobat.

Stress management and relaxation

Minimising harmful stress is a vital component of mental well-being. We have shown elsewhere the key links between stress and mood disorders. (See Stress and Causes of Bipolar Disorder.)

Ways of coping with stress are many and varied. Stress reduction and relaxation courses are offered by many organisations including local councils, community health centres and evening colleges. Your doctor may be able to suggest such courses. Relaxation can be as simple as taking your dog (black or any other colour will do) for a leisurely stroll in a park, having a warm bath, or listening to some nice music. It can also involve more structured techniques to voluntarily control and relax the muscles. The idea is that practicing such techniques enables someone to use them whenever they begin to feel anxiety or stress developing. They include:

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Reading

Reading can be a good way of staying positive and helping to keep yourself on track, mentally. There are many titles that provide practical approaches and strategies for living with illnesses, and many of a more inspirational nature. Your local library is likely to stock some of these.

See our Reading List for some suggestions.

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Meditation

Many people find meditation a vital part of their recovery from mental illness as well as their day-to-day routine when they are well. Meditation is believed to be very helpful for people with depression.

Meditation as a practice is found in many religious and spiritual traditions but is also used by people of no particular religious denomination as a way of experiencing calmness, and heightened awareness. Alpha waves are generated when a person meditates and they result in a relaxing of the entire nervous system.

Meditation essentially involves clearing one's mind of thoughts and being mentally quiet for a period of time. There are a number of different techniques that are used to achieve this, including:

  • Focusing on your breathing
  • Focusing on an object, such as a candle, or something from nature such as a tree
  • Using a mantra - a word or phrase that is repeated usually internally to focus the attention
  • Forms of movement that focus the mind, such as yoga or tai chi.

There are many places where you can learn meditation. Your local community centre or local library may have listings of such places. You could also look up your Yellow Pages for organisations that teach meditation.

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Other people's suggestions

Writing

"I have Bi-Polar II and one thing that does help me is writing about my feelings, what I'm thinking, things that happen - I write mine as a poem - then I take this to my Psychiatrist, Psychologist or Counsellor at my next appointment - from this we can discuss my ups & downs, my feelings etc. and work with it. Appointments are limited at times and one finds it hard to remember how things have been, or occurring over the past few weeks and so I find this of great benefit." 17/8/04

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