There are highly functional and solid bipolars out there when properly medicated. It seems to me it is also the responsibility of the family to know the ends of the string, so to speak to do the proper thing and not get emeshed in bad behavior or symptoms. It is also clear that you have to make a commitment and follow through on some things. Some people sucede. It's just that simple. That's not to put down any horror stories. I've seen these too. But from the outside it always comes back to choice and personal responsibility. Responsibility is the ability to respond.
=z= The novelist, journalist and psychologist Michael Zangari http://zangarijournalism.com --- On Fri, 1/30/09, Linda Ellis <lellis4...@sbcglobal.net> wrote: From: Linda Ellis <lellis4...@sbcglobal.net> Subject: Re: CS>Bipolar disorder To: silver-list@eskimo.com Date: Friday, January 30, 2009, 10:37 PM Dianne wrote: >>Knowing someone has this problem up front and considering a relationship is >>playing with fire. RUN. Bernadette adds: > I have to agree with Indi. Been reading and waiting, but now will step in. My > EX-SIL, is bi-polar. What a terrible disease. This bipolar person struggles. > He is either flying so high and moving so quickly that it is impossible to > calm him down or he is so low that he needs recreational drugs to pull > himself back up. Indi chimes in: >>RUN, DON'T WALK. There's a big difference between finding yourself already in a relationship of some kind (parent? sibling? child?) with someone with this diagnosis, and taking it on VOLUNTARILY. It is a really tough thing to live with. Although my BIL has been relatively "stable" since 2002, when he was diagnosed, we are still very concerned about some of his actions. My SIL was also diagnosed in 2002, having gone from a soaring high-profile life with a money's-no-object spouse to bankruptcy in a matter of months. She has had two more relapses, and I'm guessing that's why she can't find a job these days (employment law notwithstanding). We want nothing but the best for our family members, but if I found myself in a "new" relationship with one of these folks? I'd be heading for the hills as fast as my feet would take me. You just never know how the disease will manifest itself. Drug addiction? Sex addiction? Spending sprees? Stupid decisions? Linda The Truly Educated Never Graduate
