Inspired by work people have done on madness maps and mental health first aid kits, I decided to make a checklist/flowchart to use when I am having a particularly hard time or am in crisis. It was a good process for me to make because it helped me to really think about what has helped me or caused me trouble in the past. I really like that we can make these sorts of tools for ourselves instead of relying on more general (often judgmental) dos and don’ts or advice from people who never know us as well as we know ourselves.

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Living with bipolar disorder, when I get hypomanic, usually the first cue for me is wanting sex all. the. time. At times it gets so bad, it’s all I can think about, or I’ll spend the day masturbating rather than get any work done. Or I’ll spend my time searching for random sex partners to [...]

Tags: antidepressants, BDSM, bipolar disorder, communication, condoms, consent, dental dams, ethical slut, gloves, honesty, hooking up, hypersexuality, hypomania, libido, limits, managing symptoms, masturbation, medication, mood stabilizer, openness, owning sexuality, pleasure, polyamoury, relationships, rest, risk, safer sex, self-care, sex, sex addiction, sex drive, sexuality, trust