Skills For Living With Bipolar

Spotting Your Personal Pattern

Early mood changes often show up as small shifts before they become a clear episode. You might sleep less, talk faster, spend more, withdraw from people, or feel unusually slowed down. One sign by itself doesn’t prove a mood episode. A pattern over several days matters more.

Your job isn’t to diagnose yourself in real time. It’s to notice changes early enough to use your support plan, contact your treatment team, or reduce avoidable stress. Your checklist should use signs you actually experience - not a generic list that sounds impressive but sits untouched in a drawer.

Key takeaway: Early warning signs are personal changes that repeat, cluster, or grow stronger over time.

Build your checklist around four areas:

1. Sleep and body: hours slept, waking during the night, energy, appetite, or physical restlessness.

2. Thoughts and feelings: racing thoughts, irritability, hopelessness, unusual confidence, or feeling emotionally flat.

3. Actions and communication: talking faster, sending many messages, avoiding calls, starting lots of projects, or making impulsive purchases.

4. Daily functioning: missed medication doses, skipped meals, unfinished tasks, work changes, or difficulty keeping appointments.

A useful checklist is specific and measurable. “I feel off” can be a starting point, but “I slept five hours for two nights” gives you something you can act on. Choose signs you can notice without special equipment. A phone alarm, calendar, or simple notebook is enough.

Build Your Early-Warning Checklist

Materials needed: Paper or a notes app, a pen, and access to your calendar or recent messages.

Time required: 20-30 minutes.

Your Turn

1. Draw four headings: Sleep and body, Thoughts and feelings, Actions and communication, and Daily functioning.

2. Under each heading, write three changes you have noticed before a past high, low, or mixed mood period. Use plain language.

3. Add a number to each sign when possible. Examples include “less than six hours of sleep,” “three or more online purchases,” or “missed two meals.”

4. Mark each sign with one of these labels:

• Early: usually appears first.
• Middle: becomes noticeable after other changes.
• Urgent: means you need prompt support.

5. Circle five to eight signs that are easiest for you or someone close to you to observe.

6. Choose a tracking scale for each circled sign. Use a number, yes/no answer, or short phrase. Keep it quick enough to complete in two minutes.

7. Write one action beside each urgent sign. Name a real person, service, or step. For example: “Call my prescriber,” “Tell my sister,” or “Follow my crisis plan.”

8. Set a daily reminder for the same time. Track your signs for seven days, even if your mood feels steady.

9. At the end of seven days, underline any sign that appeared on at least three days. These are your first candidates for regular monitoring.

> Completed example

>

> Sleep and body

>

> - Slept fewer than 6 hours - Early - record hours

> - Restless energy at bedtime - Early - 0-3 rating

> - Skipped breakfast - Middle - yes/no

>

> Thoughts and feelings

>

> - Thoughts jump quickly between topics - Early - 0-3 rating

> - Irritability over small delays - Middle - 0-3 rating

> - Feelings of hopelessness - Urgent - call my support person and treatment team

>

> Actions and communication

>

> - Send more than 10 messages before noon - Middle - number of messages

> - Start three new projects in one day - Middle - yes/no

> - Stop answering calls - Early - number of missed calls

>

> Daily functioning

>

> - Miss medication dose - Urgent - yes/no; follow medication plan

> - Spend more than my daily limit - Middle - amount spent

> - Miss work or appointments - Middle - number missed

>

> Two-minute daily check: sleep hours; energy 0-3; irritability 0-3; messages sent; medication taken yes/no; one sentence about my mood.

If a sign feels embarrassing, include it anyway. Private notes can be honest. You’re not creating a report card. You’re creating an early signal system. If you’re unsure whether a sign belongs on the list, ask someone who knows your patterns: “What changes do you notice in me before my mood shifts?”

Use the Checklist in Real Life

Use the checklist at a predictable point, such as after brushing your teeth or before your evening medication. Record the facts first. Then add a short observation. For example: “Slept 5.5 hours; energy 3/3; bought headphones I didn’t plan to buy.” This takes less than two minutes and gives you a clearer picture than trying to remember the week later.

Look for clusters, not perfection. Two nights of reduced sleep plus faster speech and unusual spending may be more meaningful than any one item. A low-mood pattern might include sleeping ten hours, canceling plans, eating very little, and taking twice as long to finish simple tasks....