Ozzie I find myself that way a lot, both with stress and with anger. We were talking about that today in group in fact. I tend to hold anger in, usually it just eventually dissapates although I know that is not healthy for me. But sometimes it builds until a tiny thing sets it off and then my really horrible temper shows itself.

I think it is a really great point you make... not only in terms of breakdown but also in any sort of relapse. I'm still trying to figure out how to do that, although to be fair to myself, this current relapse was triggered by a very sudden and unexpected event. Granted the "unexpected" was do to denial on my part but its not the same thing we are talking about here, although it is something I need to work on to protect myself.

And that is what this topic is about, protecting oneself. And I think anyone with mental illness has to come to learn themselves, their triggers, their moods, and use that information to keep themselves healthy. In my support group last year we had a guest speaker who had a program to help us put into writing everything from learning what our triggers are, writing down ways to avoid or cope with triggers that we know are coming, recognizing our moods, and helping others know what to do to help us.

I should look up the name of that program, I thought it was very cool. The key was that you fill everything out when you are feeling well, so that when you are not feeling well you have something concrete to refer to to help you through it with minimal... "damage" I guess you could call it.