I do talk to myself in third person. Usually it's, "[Self], you can do this. You're doing a good job. [Therapist] says you're doing a good job, and he knows your mind better than anyone. You're doing a good job. You can do this. You can handle this. We'll get through it. It will change. It always changes. That's the nature of bipolar." I chant it over and over to try to reassure myself.

I absolutely get so overwhelmed and tired and exhausted about having to deal with this in my life. "Why did I have to get this trial? I don't want it! I hate having bipolar! I hate how much it limits me. I give up. I can't keep going. I'm all spent. It's too much, and it's not fair. All these other people who can live their dainty lives and take care of their child and have no idea what it is like to live with this huge rhino on my back. Their worst anxious days are my pretty good days. God, why did I have to have this one? Take it back." It goes along with feelings of hopelessness and despair for me usually.

I figure I'm usually chemically low when that happens, and I know that (for me personally), thinking and talking about the negative feelings and thoughts while I"m in a chemical low only makes them worse. Because I'm chemically low, my thoughts and skills won't work to change the feelings or thoughts. I have to get myself chemically a bit higher before any of my skills will work. Therefore, when I'm really low, I choose to distract myself, usually with TV, from what's going on. That's what I do when I get thoughts like that.