Managing Depression and Bipolar Disorder: 10+ Relapse Prevention Strategies That Actually Help

This article is a summary of a conversation from the Giving Voice to Depression podcast hosted by Terry McGuire. In this episode, Terry and Bridget speak with Ben, a 28-year-old artist from Brooklyn living with bipolar disorder and depression. Ben shares openly about the practical tools, emotional contradictions, and support strategies that have helped him better manage his mental health over the years.

What makes this conversation especially compelling is its honesty. Ben does not present himself as someone who has “solved” depression or bipolar disorder. Instead, he talks candidly about learning to recognize warning signs, developing a personal toolkit, and building systems of support before a crisis arrives.

The episode also explores an important idea that often gets overlooked: depression management is not just about surviving the worst days. It is about creating routines, conversations, and strategies during the better days that can help protect you when things become difficult again.

Below are some of the most valuable lessons and coping strategies discussed in this thoughtful and deeply relatable conversation.

1. Depression Requires A Gentle Approach

One of the first things Ben shares is that he had recently postponed the interview because he was experiencing a major depressive episode.

Rather than forcing himself through it, he chose to step back and take care of himself first. That decision reflects one of the central themes of the episode: learning how to respond to depression with less panic and more self-awareness.

Ben explained:

Certainly changing up medication can have a really huge impact, at least in the first couple of days. And so I think that goes back to your point of like, when there are days where you can take care of yourself and can feel like, okay, yes, I can give myself permission to be able to deal with this. There is like a lot more of a gentle approach rather than, okay everything needs to stop and we're in crisis mode or just pushing it down and then never dealing with it again.

That “gentle approach” becomes incredibly important over time. Many people living with depression swing between two extremes:

• Ignoring their symptoms completely
• Treating every difficult moment like a catastrophe

Ben describes learning to live somewhere in the middle.

Key takeaway:

• Mental health struggles do not always require emergency mode
• Sometimes the healthiest response is slowing down and listening to what you need

2. Suppressed Emotions Eventually Resurface

One of the strongest metaphors in the episode comes from Bridget, who compares suppressed emotions to holding an inner tube underwater in a swimming pool.

At first, it may feel manageable. But eventually, exhaustion or distraction causes the pressure to release — and the inner tube violently shoots upward.

Bridget shared this metaphor:

It's if you're in a pool and you've got a great big blown up inner tube, and you've got your arms locked and you're holding that inner tube under the water, analogous to suppressing one's feelings. And at some point you either get distracted and change your pressure or your arms get fatigued and that inner tube just shoots with great force up and out of the water.

This image perfectly captures what many people experience when they try to “push through” depression or trauma indefinitely.

Unprocessed emotions do not simply disappear. Often, they emerge later as:

• Emotional breakdowns
• Anger or irritability
• Physical exhaustion
• Anxiety or panic
• Worsening depression symptoms

The conversation reinforces the importance of addressing emotions before they build overwhelming pressure.

3. CBT Helps Identify Warning Signs

Ben describes using a form of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) as part of his regular mental health management.

Rather than waiting until he reaches a crisis point, he checks in with himself regularly to assess where he is emotionally.

Ben explained:

I think in the moment, like when I recognize, okay, we're kind of at code level orange or red, there's kind of a toolbox that I've amassed over the years of therapy. One of them is like a form of CBT, the cognitive behavioral therapy of being able to kind of like do a self-diagnostic to just kind of at least see where my baseline is at that day.

This “self-diagnostic” approach helps him recognize:

• Mood shifts
• Changes in thinking
• Escalating symptoms
• Emotional patterns

The earlier someone notices changes, the easier it can be to intervene before things worsen.

CBT strategies often include:

• Tracking thoughts and emotions
• Identifying distorted thinking
• Recognizing behavioral patterns
• Challenging hopeless thoughts

4. Daily Practices Support Emotional Stability

Another major lesson from the episode is the importance of consistent daily practices.

Ben emphasizes that maintaining mental health often happens outside therapy sessions and medication adjustments. He believes strongly in having a regular “practice” — something grounding and structured that helps maintain emotional balance.

As Ben described:

I think what is most beneficial to me is to have at least a part of the day where there's a practice of some sort. But I think anything from yoga to certainly, I bike a lot, so certainly having an hour of just being able to do that and kind of drop in, I think that that's a good way of maintaining things.

Importantly, Ben notes that the specific activity matters less than the consistency itself.

A “practice” could include:

• Exercise
• Yoga
• Art
• Meditation
• Music
• Building or creating something

The key is having something structured that reconnects a person to themselves.

5. Depression Creates Emotional Contradictions

One of the most relatable parts of the conversation is Ben’s description of the contradictory emotions that often accompany depression.

People may simultaneously:

• Feel lonely but avoid people
• Feel hungry but not want food
• Crave support but resist connection

Ben described these contradictions:

I feel lonely, but I don't want to be around people. I'm hungry, but don't wanna eat, or like, I'm not hungry, but I'm still eating. There's a lot of contradictions that come across when people are dealing with depression particularly.

These internal conflicts can make depression incredibly confusing — not only for the person experiencing it, but also for loved ones trying to help.

Understanding these contradictions can reduce shame and frustration. It can also help family members avoid taking certain behaviors personally when someone is struggling.

6. Talking About Depression Reduces Despair

One of the most moving moments in the episode happens unexpectedly during the interview itself.

Ben realizes, in real time, that he no longer experiences the same level of despair he once did.

Ben reflected on that realization:

With the knowledge also that it's gonna pass at some point too. And if it doesn't feel like it's passing, that there's other steps that can be taken rather than just kind of losing all hope and really falling into despair. I think that's been a huge difference over the course of my years of dealing with this is that I don't feel despair as much as I had before.

When Terry asks when he realized this change had happened, Ben admits something surprising.

Ben shared:

I think just during this conversation right now. Particularly trying to describe it to somebody else. I think once you say it, that it's kind of out there now and you can think of it as less of an abstract idea or to take it from an emotional feeling to a more of an intellectual understanding.

This is one of the episode’s most powerful reminders:

Talking about depression can create clarity.

Sometimes people do not fully understand their own growth until they hear themselves say it out loud.

7. Support Conversations Should Happen Earlier

Ben offers particularly valuable advice for friends and family members supporting someone with depression or bipolar disorder.

He explains that conversations about support are often most effective before a depressive episode happens.

Ben explained:

If you know that somebody often has issues with depression and anxiety or both, that if you, in a time where things are going well for them, have some sort of discussion about, “Hey, I'm here for you” whenever that stuff happens, or if you ever wanna talk, or we can always do a movie night with no questions asked or something like that.

This proactive approach reduces pressure during difficult moments.

It also allows people to communicate:

• What helps
• What doesn’t help
• What support they may need later

As Ben further explained:

I think that that's probably the most effective is talking about it when it's not happening just so that when it does happen like you kind of know what to do.

Creating a plan ahead of time removes guesswork later. It also helps people feel less alone before a crisis ever arrives.

8. Depression Requires Ongoing Maintenance

One of Ben’s most insightful points is that depression should not only be addressed during crisis periods.

He compares mental health care to managing diabetes — something requiring ongoing maintenance, not just emergency treatment.

As Ben explained:

Depression is something to be discussed when people are feeling just fine too. Going back to like the diabetes thing. It doesn't get just treated when it's in crisis mode, it's more of kind of like, oh yeah, things should be maintained.

This reframing is important because many people only seek help once symptoms become unbearable.

But maintenance strategies can reduce:

• Severity of episodes
• Frequency of relapse
• Feelings of helplessness

Mental health care is often more effective when it becomes part of everyday life instead of something reserved for emergencies.

9. Trauma Intensifies Mental Health Struggles

The episode also reveals that Ben experienced a deeply traumatic assault in 2013.

He was attacked by three teenagers, suffering:

• Broken bones
• Severe dental injuries
• Brain trauma

Soon afterward, he started graduate school — forcing himself to continue functioning despite enormous physical and emotional pain.

As Terry reflected:

That would be a time when he had to sort of put that inner tube underwater to move on with his life. But as you just said, it comes back and affects things.

This section of the conversation highlights how trauma and depression are often deeply interconnected.

People frequently suppress trauma in order to survive immediate responsibilities — only to feel its emotional effects later. That delayed emotional response can sometimes make it difficult to connect present struggles to past experiences.

10. Medication Changes Affect Emotional Stability

Ben and Bridget also discuss the reality that medication adjustments can temporarily destabilize emotions.

This is an important reminder because medication changes are often more complicated than people expect.

Bridget reflected on that process:

Changing your meds changes things. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad, sometimes it's bad and then good.

That unpredictability can feel discouraging, especially early in treatment.

But the conversation normalizes an important truth:

• Mental health treatment often involves experimentation and adjustment
• Progress is rarely perfectly linear
• Side effects and emotional fluctuations are common

Finding the right medication or dosage may take time, patience, and support.

11. Vulnerability Can Support Healing

Toward the end of the episode, Bridget reflects on the emotional courage required for Ben to participate in the interview at all.

She wonders whether preparing to speak openly about his depression may have stirred difficult emotions to the surface beforehand.

Bridget shared:

I really do think that the opportunity to review and put words to and kind of rehearse or practice it in your head, I believe that that act is a cathartic act that is healing and that in the process of moving toward healing, it stirs things up.

This insight is powerful because healing is not always comfortable.

Sometimes:

• Reflection increases temporary discomfort
• Vulnerability brings emotions to the surface
• Honest conversations feel emotionally exhausting

But that discomfort can also be part of meaningful growth. Speaking openly can help transform emotional confusion into understanding and connection.

12. Specific Support Feels More Helpful

One of the clearest lessons in the episode is that vague support often feels less helpful than specific support.

Terry describes how meaningful it could be for someone to simply say:

• “I’m here”
• “You’re not alone”
• “I’ll check in on you”

As Terry explained:

If you could just text me a couple times a day and let me know you're there, I'm not alone, you would come over if I wanted you to, even though I don't. You just feel connected. You'd feel like someone cared.

Depression often isolates people emotionally, even when others genuinely care about them.

Specific support strategies help bridge that gap and make support feel real, tangible, and accessible during difficult moments. Sometimes small gestures — a text message, a quiet visit, a reminder that someone is thinking about you — can make an enormous difference.

Final Thoughts

This episode of Giving Voice to Depression offers something deeply practical and deeply human at the same time.

Ben’s story reminds listeners that managing depression and bipolar disorder is not about perfection. It is about:

• Awareness
• Maintenance
• Communication
• Flexibility
• Support

Perhaps most importantly, the conversation reinforces that depression becomes easier to navigate when it is discussed openly — not just during crises, but during everyday life as well.

The more language people have for their experiences, the less alone they may feel inside them.