I know there are many Christians who may have reservations about this, but I have benefited a lot from mindfulness meditation and Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT)... And I benefited even more when I started thinking of my meditation in terms of contemplative prayer.
The basic idea of mindfulness and ACT is that we become trapped by our own thoughts, and if we could learn to kind of "retune" our thoughts by getting in touch with the present moment, they wouldn't have to trap us.
Think about it like this. In my line of work, I've helped teach social skills to children with autism. And one the biggest challenges they ever have to overcome is a parent who's told them that they have autism. Why? Because sooner than later, that becomes the child's self-explanation for why he can't change. "I go into Imagination World instead of paying attention to my schoolwork because I have autism." I've actually heard 6-year-olds say that. But do you see how limiting that is? I'm not trying to deny that there's probably something in the genes that causes autism, but we know from 21st century neuroscience that the brain CAN change in spite of its programming, if it has the right experiences. That kid is getting trapped in his own thoughts instead of asking himself, "What can I try to do better?"
Similarly, it's easy with bipolar to say, "I guess I'm stuck with this. I have bipolar, after all." Or to say, "I'm depressed, and I have no meds that can help with it. I guess I'm just going to stay depressed forever." Or, "I don't think I can handle the stress of being around other people." Or, "This is AMAZING! I am AWESOME! They're all telling me I'm manic, but I know better!" Each one of those thoughts can trap us, in its own way. But part of keeping them from trapping us is realizing that they're just thoughts, and thoughts don't have to mean anything.
I mean, how often do you get a song or a commercial jingle stuck in your head? You don't try to focus on it, and in fact, you want to get rid of it. Sometimes our thoughts our like that. Either they're manic and won't seem to stop, or they're depressive and won't seem to stop, or they're stressed and won't seem to stop. And if we get into a mode of being where we take all our thoughts seriously, it can be pretty stressful that they won't stop. So we do something very silly. We get depressed over the fact that we're depressed, or stressed over the fact that we're stressed. And so because we're worried about our thoughts, we just push ourselves further and further into an emotional state where those thoughts are just going to keep coming, bigger and stronger.
But that song stuck in your head? It may be annoying, but it doesn't mean anything. You're not voluntarily setting the song to play, and most of the time you're not even thinking about the lyrics. The thoughts that you can't stop are like that, too. They don't mean anything. And the sooner you believe that and keep it in mind when the going gets tough, the sooner you are to winning half the battle.
But the other half, I've found, is to bear in mind that the world is sacramental. God created this universe to bear testament to His glory. So to take time out of your day to say to yourself, "Okay, if unwanted thoughts come to me, that's okay. They don't have to mean anything to me. But in the meantime, I'm going to try to focus in on the present moment. What am I seeing and hearing and smelling and feeling right now?" See, there are admittedly parts of our day where what we feel in the present moment is unpleasant. But you know what? Ninety-odd percent of the day, I for one have a roof over my head, food in my stomach, and nobody holding me at gunpoint. Ninety-odd percent of the day, what's going on around me is pretty good and pretty calm. So if I can slow myself down enough to be critical of my own thought process and pay attention to the present moment, I usually feel better for it and pull myself out of extreme moods.
I've been long-winded. But I encourage you to look into the stuff I'm talking about. I've had the benefit of meds, but they don't do the whole trick. And in fact, what's helped me get back on my feet is mindfulness and contemplative prayer. It may take some time before it really clicks with you and starts to work, but it does work.
