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 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. By Julie A. Fast 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...
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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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Damn stigma. I am still ashamed. And I really don’t understand why. I told my now husband weeks into dating, nine (9) years ago this summer, that I was Bipolar. I was totally open. Now I am hiding that I am currently winding down the road of depression as I am now off my wellness...
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Here are a few ideas to keep you and your sweetheart in synch when living with bipolar disorder. By Robin L. Flanigan 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...
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Breakups can be brutal—and can easily trigger bipolar symptoms. By Robin L. Flanigan 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...
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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. By Robin L. Flanigan 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,...
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Tips from a dad raising four children on the importance of talking about your mood swings and mental health. By Chato Stewart Welcome to the Bipolar and Fatherhood bphope Vlog. I am Chato Stewart—husband & father of 4 children. Today, I like to speak to you about what I believe, is the...
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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 my life, welcome yet difficult. But nothing could have prepared me for the journey I have recently begun. As of this writing I am seven weeks pregnant, and I couldn’t be...
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The Family Stew In 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 we want to spend the rest of our lives with this person. We are filled with...
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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...
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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...
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To paraphrase Frida Kahlo: “l tried to drown my isolation in alcohol but the bastards learned to swim”… If you follow ME at www.beingbipolarisntyeasy.com or even here, you are fully aware that I have been struggling these last few years in Macau, China. I gather, feeling alone, disconnected from my husband as a young mother...
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My name is Sharon and I live on the mid-north coast of New South Wales, Australia. I’m 45, married with 2 children and I moved to Australia from England in 2002 aged 32. Prior to having children, I had not experienced mental illness and had always been a fairly positive, enthusiastic person who enjoyed life....
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For Jennifer Marshall—wife, mother, and creator of ‘This Is My Brave’—a bipolar diagnosis led to a more satisfying life and redefining what really matters. By Lori Hile Jennifer used to define success in terms of her high-powered recruiting job for one of the top creative staffing agencies in the Washington, D.C., area. She was...
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