How to avoid mania and depression (bipolar disorder) through healthy social inter-connectedness and an awareness of our being made in God's image.

1. Distance from
Imago Dei
awareness
Distance
from others
Mania
Depression
• This is the graph Y=X3
• ‘Y’ = the distance from healthy social
connectedness
• ‘X’ = the distance from a healthy
identification with the ‘imago dei,’ with
a deep understanding of who God is
and who we are to God
• When Y and X = 0, then one is at peace
with oneself and others; one can be
active in conversation or in solitude,
but one is not lonely or isolated;
conversation flows in give-and-take
fashion, and meditation is relaxing and
deepening
• As one travels away from 0 in either
direction, one takes on increasingly
anti-social postures and atheistic
mindfulness
Lucid - Social
Uncontrollable - Suicidal
Uncontrollable - Isolated
Reckless - Anti-social
Restless - Anti-social
Energetic - Swashbuckler
Eager - Obnoxious
Insightful - Witty
Talkative - Social
Tired - Relaxed
Unreachable - Suicidal
Unreachable - Isolated
Self-loathing - Desperate
Self-contempt - Grieving
Self-doubting - Scared
Morose - Scared
Morose - Cautious
Morose - Humorous
FINAL ACT, WITHIN AN
IMAGINED WILDERNESS
FINAL ACT, WITHIN AN
IMAGINED FANTASY

2. Depression
A
B
• When ‘X’ has a large value:
✦ grandiose thinking
✦ elevated mood
✦ reckless behavior
✦ self-love
✦ Imago dei is equated with
identity
✦ ‘messiah complex’
✦ ‘The world needs me to save it!’
• When ‘Y’ has a large value:
✦ Identification with disease to
point of denial (‘I feel great’)
Mania
Distance from
Imago Dei
awareness
Distance
from others

3. A
B
• When ‘X’ has a small (negative)
value:
✦ meaninglessness/hopelessness
✦ stagnant, then destructive,
behavior
✦ self-hatred
✦ ‘I don’t understand anymore’
✦ Imago dei is denied
✦ inferiority complex
✦ ‘The world is better off without
me... No one can save me.’
• When ‘Y’ has a small (negative)
value:
✦ Identification with disease to
point of equation with it (‘I am
bipolar’ rather than ‘I have
bipolar’)
Mania
Depression
Distance from
Imago Dei
awareness
Distance
from others

4. A
B
• When we see Y=X4...
Mania
Depression
Distance from
Imago Dei
awareness
Distance
from others
• The shape is parabolic, never really
balanced.
• While the swing of X3 is not ideal,
the positive (boldness) is balanced
by the negative (humility). Lacking
either, we have ego out of check or
ego denied.

5. A
B
Depression
Distance from
Imago Dei
awareness
Distance
from others
Mania
• The main applications now are:
✦ Determining the accelerators or
triggers of ‘A’ and ‘B’ causing
rapid swing away from Y=0.
✦ Determining turnaround
strategies ‘C’ and ‘D’ before
catastrophe
C
D

6. A
B
Depression
Distance from
Imago Dei
awareness
Distance
from others
Mania
• Accelerators at both A and B are:
✦ Making mistakes that are
interpreted as socially ‘fatal;’
this moves one farther away
from the imago dei, in that self-
talk becomes self-
condemnation
✦ External criticism at B can result
in depression, since it is
interpreted as denying the
imago dei. It can result in
mania when the critic’s
authority is dubious. (‘I am
smarter than she is; I will move
forward with this decision no
matter what.’)
✦ Isolation itself at A or B can
accelerate whatever thoughts/
feelings are present and
catapult one into a manic or
depressive state.
C
D

7. A
B
Depression
Distance from
Imago Dei
awareness
Distance
from others
Mania
• Accelerators at both A and B are:
✦ Boredom is a function of not
being engaged fully enough with
others. (Being engaged ‘with
others’ in a book is possible
only when agitation and
irritability are reduced.)
✦ Being told ‘No’ is tantamount to
criticism in either mood swing
C
D

8. A
B
Depression
Distance from
Imago Dei
awareness
Distance
from others
Mania
• Still to do is:
✦ Determine stops and
turnarounds on A and B

9. A
B
Depression
Distance from
Imago Dei
awareness
Distance
from others
Mania
• Turnaround strategies at C:
✦ [Teak, age 9] ‘I realized that I
had experienced [getting held
down by a parent] before, so I
tried to get my way by doing the
smartest way... I figure that if I
stay calm, they’ll let me go and
I’ll get my way.’
✦ TAKE-AWAY: At this point,
reason does not apply. A manic
person will not listen to an
argument about ‘the imago dei.’
Rather, physical restraint and
reminding the person to do what
it takes to get their way--
namely, be calm--will result in
giving them the freedom to do
what they want.
✦ TAKE-AWAY: A second person
being present is essential.
C

10. A
B
Depression
Distance from
Imago Dei
awareness
Distance
from others
Mania
D
• Turnaround strategies at D:
✦ TAKE-AWAY: As with mania,
reason does not apply. A
depressive person will not listen
to an argument about ‘the imago
dei’
✦ TAKE-AWAY: Different from the
imago dei rationale is to explain,
or conduct self-talk around, the
truth that God’s opinion of and
love for me, rather than
someone else’s, is what truly
matters. This self-talk helped
me exit a 2-week depression in
the Fall of 2008, and I have not
entered one since
✦ TAKE-AWAY: A second person
being present is essential.