Bipolar Relationships
Posted by Administrator in Mental Health.Making It Work
When a married person is diagnosed with bipolar disorder (manic depression), it is really a diagnosis for the couple. Unfortunately, this disorder so often wreaks havoc in marriages. Reaching out for help with his struggling marriage, a newly diagnosed member asks, “How can I ask her to look up to me and take comfort in my confidence when all of this has been shattered?”
Hope, another member who has been in a rather long marriage to someone with bipolar disorder, shares her insight. “I feel so much for you and your wife. It was like reading my feelings of pain and anger when things get so overwhelming. My husband has bipolar disorder and I have been with him for eighteen years. Yes, it has gotten so stressful that I have contemplated leaving him more often than not. But, I am still here and I still love him everyday. If I may, I truly understand your wife’s anger, frustration, stress and the feelings of hopelessness in all the situations you have described.
“The past four years have been so very hard on both of us. My husband has been in and out of treatment for years … compliant and noncompliant, working and not working, depressed and manic, as well as self-medicated and dealing with addictions. You name it; we have been through it. Right before he gets manic, he gets very upbeat, talkative, overly confident and actually pretty funny and great to be around. However, the last time it spun way out of control to the point where he was unbearable to be around. I had called his doctor and got him in again. His meds were changed, which we all know only works if you do not self-medicate at the same time. Nothing worked for a while. He threatened to leave me and we almost split up.
“At this point, I was in total overload. He worked but the money was not getting to where it was suppose to go. For two years, I robbed Peter to pay Paul for all our bills. I worked two jobs. I borrowed from the world just to keep our things. He was trying very hard. I put in a call to his doc. Read more