5 Questions to Ask Yourself If You Have Depression and Bipolar Disorder

If you are experiencing depression that is associated with bipolar disorder or even without bipolar disorder, it is important that you start journaling every day. Journaling can do many things for the human brain; including helping release any negative emotions that are inside. You'll also be able to see patterns in yourself and learn what you are doing unconsciously on a regular basis. Ask yourself these five questions while journaling to get better insight into yourself.

The first question you need to ask yourself is what exact symptoms you are experiencing that are associated with depression. When did the symptoms start to occur? You will have to do some thinking whenever you decide to answer this question, as it will require you to remember past situations that may be painful and difficult you don't want to think about. You need to narrow down to the exact day if possible, month and year your symptoms started and what exactly the symptoms were.

The second question you must ask yourself is how long the symptoms lasted. This will also require you to put some thought into your answer, as you will have to recall from the past and do the best you can. Many of these symptoms will last for days, weeks, months and even years sometimes. The most important thing to do is be honest with yourself when answering these questions.

The third question you want to ask yourself is on a scale of 1 to 10, it is important that you rate how severe your symptoms were. For each individual symptom you experience associated with depression and bipolar disorder, you would need to write the individual symptoms and decided rate how severe it was for each period of time you experienced it.

The fourth question you will need to ask is how exactly the symptoms showed presence in your life. Did they cause you to become extremely sad to where you did not want to get out of bed for many days? Were you having thoughts of suicide and want to kill yourself? Did you actually inflict self pain or self harm onto your body? You can come up with your own questions for your own symptoms, but be honest with yourself.

The fifth question you must ask yourself is what the outcome was of the behaviors you were showing. Did this cause you to actually create harm to someone else or yourself? Did you stay out of work for a few days because you lay in bed and did not want to get up? Did you have a lot of internal conflict with yourself and confusing thoughts?