I’m not a fan of New Year’s resolutions. I generally find them phony, unreasonable and dead by the second week of January. I feel if you’re ready for change in your life you make change at that moment, not when a ball drop tells you to. That being said, people insist on making New Year’s resolutions anyway. It’s a psychological and societal time of renewal and a life reset that people choose to mark with promises. So if you’re bipolar, what kind of New Year’s resolutions might be helpful?

After I've done the relaxation thing, settled into the new day, or the new year (yikes! already??), sometimes I'll feel like I'm just left hanging. Wondering, what next in some sort of weird limbo state that's neither here nor there. Not exactly anywhere. And seriously, what's next? Today. Tomorrow. Next year. Live in the moment: It’s the only one you have

On New Year's Eve 2009, I was with my husband, David, at a party. I ate without too much fear and had earlier wrote that I was on my way to complete recovery from anorexia nervosa in 2010. It wasn't meant to be. However, I always try to live my life with hope. I vow that 2011 will be the year I recover. I also believe each one of you can make this the year you recover from your eating disorder.

Angela E. Gambrel Lackey, author of Surviving ED blog, talks about her struggles with Anorexia Nervosa during 2010 and offers advice about how recovery from eating disorders comes from learning to love oneself and wanting recovery for you.

Recently a reader asked how to get over the feeling that her sister is faking dissociative identity disorder. If you doubt your friend or family member's diagnosis, I think it's important to identify why you're skeptical. What in particular has you questioning it? Write it down, and be specific. Now find out everything you can about each of those nagging suspicions. I'm willing to bet a healthy majority of them are based on common misconceptions about dissociative identity disorder. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean you're wrong. Sometimes people who say they have DID don't have it at all. That could be because they're pretending for some perceived gain, e.g. sympathy. But I believe the discrepancy is more likely due to misdiagnosis and genuine confusion.

There are certain relaxation techniques I've found genuinely helpful - and have come to rely on - to deal with specific anxiety issues like: getting to sleep - ever; my phobia of flying, and; managing daily anxiety and depression. Relaxation techniques relieve anxiety because they literally change your mind. They allow you to settle into the brain wave states that are normally only active during sleep. Basically you're alert and fully relaxed, getting a whole heap of the benefits of sleep, without the bother.

Katie Rios developed acne at 11-years-old and started picking at her skin. Ten years later, Katie still struggles with what she now knows is dermatillomania (also known as excoriation disorder). An impulse control disorder marked by secrecy, compulsive skin picking holds sufferers hostage in a painful cycle of compulsion and shame. Many people with dermatillomania go to great lengths to hide their skin picking and the resulting scars, limiting their ability to get treatment and support. Severe cases can interfere with an individual's ability to work, have relationships, or even spend much time out in public for fear of having the embarrassing secret discovered.

Congratulations; if you’re reading this you’ve survived the holidays, or most of them anyway. You’re past the late-night wrapping sessions, the overindulgence in eggnog and the stuffing that you never like but every year are forced into eating anyway. Huzah. But if you’re a bipolar like me, you’ve found that all that forced merriment has left you feeling hollow, tired and depressed, so it’s time to take action to get back to your pre-holiday self.

Most people have the same or similar resolutions for the New Year: lose weight, save money, and, [insert your romantic objective here]. Those are all good resolutions (if you can keep them past January), but this year I’ve decided that I’m going to keep it simple, and just focus on one main objective: to think positive.

I'm still working on that post I've been promising--you know, the one where I address my perception of anger and blame being directed primarily at parents when it comes to psychiatric illness. I think about it often--when I'm in the shower in the morning, thinking about my own parents; when I'm checking my email, reading a comment from a reader who believes parents are the root of all evil; when I'm at home, and my adoring firstborn has just reminded me I'm not only an idiot, I'm annoying as all get-out.