Building and maintaining your marriage when your spouse has bipolar can be challenging. Check out the articles below for personal stories, practical advice and tips on maintaining healthy relationships with your husband, wife or partner.
Having bipolar disorder does not mean that you are incapable of being a loving, supportive, and kind mother. But it does mean that you need to proactively prioritize physical and mental wellbeing. All moms must be unbalanced to one extent or another. After all, if committing to decades of, in the words of author Elizabeth...
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Bipolar disorder doesn’t have to be a ‘negative’ in a relationship. It may instead offer profound and meaningful breakthroughs for both partners. There are numerous articles that point to partners who have bipolar disorder as having tendencies toward infidelity, or anger outbursts, but readers need to realize that not every person with bipolar disorder will...
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Having a partner over-involved in your recovery plan can result in frustration, resentment, and confrontation. When you collaborate though, you can work as a team on your recovery. I couldn’t stand my spouse “helicoptering.” It was part of his over-involvement in my care which disempowered, discouraged, infantilized and enraged me. I admit that at times...
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Parenting is tough even without a bipolar diagnosis. However, there are strategies that can help you maintain healthy family bonds through the challenges. I am the proud father of two daughters, age 23 and 20. My girls are each the “apple of my eye” and anyone who knows me understands that this is the...
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Sometimes it helps to trust that our loved-ones can provide valuable insight into our behavior to help us cope with symptoms. My mom is by far my biggest support. She has always been here for me even when she had no idea how to help me. It has been over 20 years since my diagnosis...
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My husband could say I am “worth it” despite my bipolar illness, but he does not. Instead, we both say that is a question that should never be asked. When it is below zero and I am ice fishing on a frozen Alaskan lake, I concentrate all my energy on catching fish. Each time...
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When you have bipolar disorder, no medication can truly change your attitude or thinking, as I learned from my late father. It takes hard work. My dad was the first person I knew who had bipolar disorder. It was back in 1975 that he had a “nervous breakdown.” For months he battled severe depression....
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I often wondered what parenting with bipolar would be like, but nothing could prepare me for the reality of having a new baby to love and to care for. On March 2, 2017, I became a new parent to our first living child, Pablo Phoenix Wise. It’s been a whole new adjustment ever since....
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Even in a great marriage, handling major life changes while also managing bipolar disorder is challenging. Step back, take a breath, persevere! The return to our beloved Colorado last spring after 17 years happened quickly, though we had been planning it in our hearts for some time. It was a matter of my husband...
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As a new mom, I think the key to maintaining mental health postpartum is vigilance – whether it’s by taking your medications, seeing your therapist, or whatever else you find works. I am a new mom, and I have bipolar disorder. There may be nothing particularly unique about this, but let me rephrase it –...
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When I met my husband, I was completely honest and open about my bipolar disorder. But now, 9 years after we married, I am still ashamed to tell my husband about my depression. Damn stigma. I am still ashamed. And I really don’t understand why. I told my now husband weeks into dating, nine (9)...
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Here are a few simple relationship tips & ideas to keep you and your sweetheart in synch when living with bipolar disorder. Cultivate connection: Even during severe depressive episodes when she wants to isolate herself, LaRae of Maine can deeply feel her husband’s love in one of his hugs or an offer to clean up...
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Breakups can be brutal—and can easily trigger bipolar symptoms. The end of a relationship often ushers in dark feelings like abandonment, guilt, and rejection. Even if the relationship was toxic and getting out was the right decision, there may be a sense of failure or self-blame. In any case, there’s typically a period of destabilizing...
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Building a strong relationship takes work. When one partner has bipolar disorder, thriving together takes a more focused effort. Here is what helps couples cope. Maureen met her husband, Gary, 24 years ago. They were both on a bowling team for people in the music business—she booked internationally known artists, he was a touring jazz...
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Tips from a dad raising four children on the importance of talking about your mood swings and mental health. Today, I like to speak to you about what I believe, is the most important key to being a successful father with bipolar disorder. Whether you’re a NEW Dad or have grown children… All fathers will...
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I have bipolar disorder––and I’m also pregnant. Because of this, when I talk to other people, they automatically assume that I don’t know what is best for me and my baby. Ok, so I’m not really here to offer you any advice, at least not yet. The last several months have brought many changes to...
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Having a healthy marriage with bipolar disorder isn’t all “peaches and cream,” but it can be done. The family stew The above mental Health Humor Cartoon I drew is part of The Family Stew series. Here is where I believe we place the keys to minds and hearts…When we first fall in love and decide...
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Marriage without mental illness, so I’m told, is challenging enough. Add bipolar disorder, and you are in for some extra work. “Write what disturbs you, what you fear, what you have not been willing to speak about. Be willing to be split open.”Natalie Goldberg, author of Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within What can...
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Your bipolar disorder wellness plan, as a parent, should take into account both you AND your children. This post looks into the challenges faced by parents diagnosed with bipolar disorder and provides some insight into how to develop a recovery plan inclusive of the well-being of their children. The bipolar disorder Having bipolar disorder and...
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Alcohol dependence gets in the way of me being a good mother, a good wife, and a good bipolar symptom-manager. To paraphrase Frida Kahlo: “l tried to drown my isolation in alcohol but it learned to swim”… If you follow me, you are fully aware that I have been struggling these last few years in...
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