Bipolar and Music

[Delusion]

Always wondered if BP sufferers tended to be be ''into'' any genres more than others because of the associations with creativity and stuff.

I find im very restrictive i'll listen to all kinds of metal and punk variants and sub-groups but absolute detest RnB and dance music and the **** you hear in most clubs

[BipolarBear75]

Here is a song for us all to check out. It is called "It can't rain all the time" by Jane Siberry. If you can't find it, it is on the Crow soundtrack. (the movie not the show). It is a GREAT song for when you are depressed.....but if you are depressed and listening...it can either make you feel better or the words can make you cry! But I love it for that!

[bernie40]

I don't know if its a BP thing or not.  All I do know is that none of my friends did this.  They all stuck to the "popular" sound at the time, had their favourite foods that stayed their favourite foods and only read when forced to.

My mum used to wonder if she would come home one day and find me moving the furniture around in the living room because I was forever moving it round in my bedroom.  Now I have met a couple of people who share my "oddity" for this, one has been diagnosed with cyclothymia and the other admits that she may have BP and has just started to seek help.

I've also moved house far more than the average person and now that my husband has put his foot down regarding that I just swap all the rooms around instead ;-)

[BipolarBear75]

When I was a kid, my dad could not keep up with my lunches. I would go through "kicks" as he would call them for picnic type lunches....then when he would go out to buy more of the same....I didn't want that, I was already on to something else. He still remembers that....my son is the same way. Oh Man.

I am the same in my books...sometimes I get obsessed about finding all the books by one author...ie Maeve Binchy and I will be very upset when I read all of them and there is none left and I feel like there is nothing that will compare.

My music is everything to Kimya Dawson (juno soundtrack) to John Mellencamp, Ozzy Osbourne, GnR, Van Morission.....and so. I have been like that ever since I was a kid. I was the only kid listening to Johnny Cash on my walkman, I can garantee you!!!

I have always been this way....is this a personality thing or my bipolar 1 thing? I never saw a connection.....but then again....I didn't get diagnosed till my early thirties. But reading Bulldozer and MonkeyC.....I don't know.

[Venora Moonwind]

I listen to new age and meditate alot  I like all music but the new age is profoundly soothing
I rock and roll when I am cleaning the house.
The meditation helps my manic phases.
Love Venora

[bernie40]

sigh...

at least it makes us interesting ;-)

[Delusion]

Now the last 3 posts fits me perfectly there =/

[bernie40]

I'm wondering (forgive me if I'm stating the obvious), if our brains are constantly fighting routine?  I know families who stick to a fortnightly menu plan, have been in the same job for 25 plus years, keep their furniture in the same place FOREVER (this completely astounds me), never move home etc etc.

So, routine is important in managing BP yet keeping to a routine is particularly difficult.  I realise that when we discuss routine we are talking more about "time" and I do try and stick to a good time routine, give or take the odd hour.

I know what you mean about books, my husband goes mad at me, I have so many books and I buy more every week even though I haven't read all the ones I've already got.  My concentration is better than it was and I'm able to read for short periods of time again which is great.

I've also gone completely off topic - ooops - there's irony.

[monkeyc]

Same lunch for months and then not again, obsessions with certain foods, certain chocolate types or brands..

I hear you.

I dont have the concentration to read much anymore and there are over 2000 books in this house on every subject and Im a compulsive DVD buyer - there's a stack of unwatched ones here over a foot tall (sales are fun) on my desk to watch.

[bernie40]

That's an interesting thought monkeyc.  I have spurts of interest.  I will read nothing but thrillers for 6 months, then it will be autobiography, then crappy romance, then the classics etc etc.  Or it will be a phase of only reading one author.

Its the same with food.  I'll have fancies that last a few weeks - (do you feel sorry for my family yet, lol).  This last week its been food done in a slow cooker (crockpot).  Before that it was everything with a jacket potato.  Next week it could be all rice dishes or all fish dishes.

..... and don't get me started on career choices!

[monkeyc]

Me neither but it is rushing up faster than I like...

I think the lesson is we are samplers, I bet if you looked at our reading habits you would see a similar thing, sampling different genre's - it seems most bipolars ive met are like that, into a lot of different things.

Or maybe we just lack focus.  

[bernie40]

Cheeky!!! lol

I'm not quite there yet thank you very much ;-)

[Delusion]

Lol okay my summary based on (you lot) is bipolar people are very open minded and divergent lol or dare i say it.. over 40 >_< *hides*

[monkeyc]

I prefer strait bluegrass myself to be honest though I admit to being a Nickel Creek fan...  

Why not cumbia or tango or flamenco either ? :)

[LeftCoastChick]

I'm suprised you don't have southern blue grass rock as a choice ;)

[Delusion]

Lol indeed i have ;-) along with opera, jazz etc i would never listen to them lol they not even music to me even though they are really and practioners of all 3 are very talented their just not my thing

[ILADVOCATE]

Well mine is wildly divergent. In a depressive state I might listen to goth music, in an angry state I might listen to punk rock and when things are overall going well classic rock but I have a strong preference for jazz. My grandfather in the older generation played in the big bands in 40's but I like more modern jazz of a variety of kinds. If I have to say who my favorite musician is it would be Miles Davis. I honestly can't think of an album that is more relaxing than "Kind of Blue".

[bernie40]

Have to lump them in as "Other", lol

[LetaB]

  Wait, I just checked - you did leave out country! How dare you, sir?

[LetaB]

Then couldn't you have left out country for pete's sake?

[Delusion]

Because i ran out of boxes :-P

[jen21287]

For me, its: alternative, folk, and rock. When I am depressed, the music I listen to tends to be depressing. When I am hypomanic, I listen to music that is completely uncharacteristic of me - pop/R&B.

[LetaB]

  I concur with the consensus here and my taste in music is wildly divergent - rock, jazz, light opera, bluegrass, comedy, etc. - but NO country. However the light of my life right now is the alternative rock group "Elbow". Why no listing for alternative?

[cowgirlnerd]

I like all types of music, and it really depends on my moods.  When I am manic - I am a BIG fan of Beck.  Depressed - it's Country.  Like the 70's, 80's hard rock, blue grass, you name it, but during those times, it's either Beck or country.

Big sprectrum, huh?

[Delusion]

Sure lol but it wont let you, wont let me vote punk and metal =/