Things don't feel so good today

So basically, there's two bipolar people in my system. Me, and John. I'm medicated and pretty darn stable, and damn thankful for it after reading through my Journal on another forum.

However, John, never being out, seems unaffected by my medication, and has just crashed out of his mania, and is now terribly depressed, and any time I focus in to see what's going on inside, I feel his depression. It's worse than any depression I've ever felt. There's nothing really I can think of doing to help this, I just don't want to feel what he feels every time I look inside (which is very often when there's nothing going on). Also, if I just stop looking inside, they'll think I'm not communicating with them at all, and might get mad, or force switching on me, so I can't do that.

Anybody got any advice?

You could ask some of the other insiders to be with John, comfort him, support him. Also, reassure everyone inside that this too will pass.

Frequently what looks like bipolar disorder is not bipolar disorder, especially if it does not respond to medication. Instead, it is a repeating emotional flashback of trauma. Think about anniversaries. Does John have a trauma anniversary that you are not aware of? What happened in your life at this time of year, this time of the month, this place where you are now?

Finally, look for triggers. Something happened that may have had no special meaning for you but triggered John. If you ask inside about this directly, someone there may be able to tell you exactly what the trigger was.

Matt, Una's suggestions are very good. Is there any way you can get a communication to John? Let him know that you are willing to share his pain? Encouraging him to communicate his pain, directly to you or to another alter, verbally, internally, or written, should help even if he isn't willing or able to share it. One of the worst aspects of being depressed is being completely alone in one's pain. It may be terribly uncomfortable to look inside, but the pain rightfully belongs to all of you. If you truly feel that you can only handle so much, you might request that only part of the pain be communicated to you. You've already know that you can't just stop looking inside without paying a price. In any case, it's not really fair when part of you (just as for another person outside the body who depends on you to any extent) is in tremendous pain not to help them to the extent that you can.

For help with moderating the emotional pain, so that it does not overwhelm you, you might like this book by Babette Rothschild: 8 Keys to Safe Trauma Recovery: Take-Charge Strategies to Empower Your Healing. She is a very big advocate of maintaining emotional and psychological safety while working to resolve trauma. Her website has some pages about this that are helpful too. Click the Publications button on her website pages, near the top below the header.

Website: Babette Rothschild

Una+ wrote:You could ask some of the other insiders to be with John, comfort him, support him. Also, reassure everyone inside that this too will pass.

Frequently what looks like bipolar disorder is not bipolar disorder, especially if it does not respond to medication. Instead, it is a repeating emotional flashback of trauma. Think about anniversaries. Does John have a trauma anniversary that you are not aware of? What happened in your life at this time of year, this time of the month, this place where you are now?

Finally, look for triggers. Something happened that may have had no special meaning for you but triggered John. If you ask inside about this directly, someone there may be able to tell you exactly what the trigger was.

They do stay with him, when he is depressed he becomes quite dangerous to the system. Erm... I believe his suicide date was sometime during September of 2005, not sure what day however. Nothing really happened to me during that time though, I started secondary school. He says that the memories of his past life tell him he suffered from type 1 bipolar disorder, which in my system is what it seems like he suffers from. I don't believe John suffered anything traumatic from any of my life. The ones that did suffer have told me they have. John simply suffers from mania and depression. He is adamant there's no traumatic memories. Not even his vacant memory of his suicide. He says when the anniversary of his suicide comes round, he is glad it never happened, even if depressed. I think the only reason he doesn't respond to medication is because he doesn't surface. My ISH Matt agrees with me too, and he knows everything there is to know about my system xD

Thanks though. I will ask him to share his pain, I may allow him to stay co-concious with me so that he can respond to my medication, if he will. I'll let you know if it works.

Thank you all
Matt.

This cohosting thing I'm doing with John is really working. I had my meds just over an hour ago, and we're both just fine.

Thanks for all the advice guys. We're great!