Aa
Aa
A
A
A
Close
889557 tn?1260150805

other people

How many of you believe that poeple or well education on Bipolar? Mainly family...

it seems like i cant get them to lift a finger in understanding whats going on with me or to even have compassion! mabey if they listend they could understand. im tried of just hearing "thats crazy why would you think that?" like i can help it... honeslty...!!!!!
18 Responses
Sort by: Helpful Oldest Newest
242912 tn?1660619837
Hahaha...Yes, Yes, Yes!
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Same here - it's the look of surprise that really gets to me.  I'm wondering if he is related to a goldfish with a short memory span :-o

What is annoying is when he says "what's the matter" or "well why are you feeling down/up/angry/lethargic" etc etc and I throw up my hands and say "well isn't that the million dollar question"!
Helpful - 0
242912 tn?1660619837
OMG....I laughed so hard at part of your statement.  My husband has known me 31yrs and he does the same thing!  No matter what happens, he acts like this is the first time he's ever seen it before!

Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I know what you mean about feeling as if your wife may be trivializing your depression and blaming it on diet soda! My husband also blames my mood swings on...well...pretty much anything and everything he can think of, as long as he can keep himself in denial and as long as it doesn't point to a true chemical imbalance. I've been rapid cycling daily and he doesn't understand and won't research it & I'm nervous to talk to him about it, so he blames it on what I ate the night before, or the medication the doc put me on, etc. It may be that they want to make it unimportant OR it really may be that they want to help and they're trying to think of other ways besides meds to help us. In my case, my husband doesn't believe, yet, that its something I've always had. So he feels its going to go away and doesn't want me to be on meds, he wants me to just go the natural holistic way, which isn't reccomended. It makes me sad that we have to fight so hard to make our families understand us, it's like they've seen the behavior but when there is an actual label to it you become alien and fragile.  
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
My family and people I worked with and stuff had no idea about any of the stuff I was going through until I couldn't ignore it anymore and it was starting to overtake me and I just came out about it.  I don't know, I always preferred people to laugh about me instead of worry about me I guess.  I think people like my boss should know so they can know what to expect instead of just OH SURPRISE LOL UR IN DA HOSPITAL OMG
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I've worked with this for many years now, and my people (blood and chosen family) do all they can for me while preserving their lives.  They are supportive of each other, and know only those who love me stick with me.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
pffffffffff even knowing me for 35 yrs has not taught my husband anything. No matter what happens he always acts as though he's never seen it before. My youngest ignores the BP and hopes it will go away and my oldest thinks you can pull yourself up by your own bootstraps. The rest of my family (extended) has their own mental problems but chooses to self medicate with drugs, alcohol or are religious zealots who have turned their backs on me because I am 'crazy'
Helpful - 0
585414 tn?1288941302
Makes sense. I hate the media representation of people with disabilities regardless but as for bipolar either a person is a "tortured genius" or its a joke at their expense. What about someone who just stays in treatment and gets on with life? People do tend to self diagnose and don't understand it and misuse the term. I hate when people say "I'm a little bipolar myself". I did do a comedy monologue once and as for a short printable part of it I said "schizoaffective is a fact. Ignorance is a state of mind and as for a psychotic state if you lived through one you wouldn't want it on your license plate lol". But all that is quite serious and people should realize manic is not just someone who is really happy or enjoys life or is just eccentric. I can't tell you how many times I was changing from mood stabilizer to mood stabilizer until I found the right one (which for a long time was Lamictal) and its a whole feeling of wanting to come down and not being able to and honestly after a while its a bit frightening.
Helpful - 0
539694 tn?1434565947
In my experience people have had two perspectives of it firstly is a very rudimentary understanding namely ''very depressed but then has happy days'' or the media influenced and heavilly romantised understanding ''drug addicts who hate the world and want to die yet are always fueld with confidence and look great and go round ******* anything with a pulse''. While there are some of us who are like the latter it doesnt apply to all of us and it annoys me when people i meet expect me to be like that when i say im bipolar. However it annoys me more with the first when people are ignorant enough to think its just depression with happy days. They are completely oblivious to the lack of sleep pattern, the hallucinations, the nightmares, the suicidal thoughts, the addictions, the anger, the uncontrollable thoughts **** i could go on forever.

My opinion is when someone tells you they know what Bipolar is make sure they do. Make sure its not from the ******** theyve seen on television or from the intro page of wikipedia otherwise you will be lulled into expecting people to understand when they really didnt in the first place even though they said they did.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
i know what you mean...my kin can relate  to it they have issues of mental illness...nut like my girlfreind has no clue and says she has no time to look at my problems with bp1..she told me once i got online and its a chemical imbalance..im like you think thats all there is to it....i told her to live in my shoes 1 day...you would want to red all you could on it..ive read so much and sometimes i cant figure it all out..alot of us are difft in many ways...some rapid every 5 min or less,,some live in mania and very manic...im more on the obbseshion and hypomania ans deppressed...but know one thats bnot got this ..dont want to learn on it..and if they do they wont spend alot of time on it.,.
Helpful - 0
794091 tn?1264986339
My family knew I was nuts before I did . I think if your close . They probably know you better than you do . My mother pretends there is nothing wrong . She thinks that is the cool best way to deal with it .
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
My wife suggested today that maybe the reason I'm depressed is because I drink diet soda.  Hmmm.  I'm going to quit (because I've never drunk very much diet soda to begin with) because I'm willing to try anything.  Isn't it funny that on the one hand it would be very convenient if it was something like that and I would be very grateful.  But on the other hand I get a little miffed because it seems she's almost trivializing it.  I don't know what I'm trying to say.  I think most families want to think it's anything but a true illness.  They kind of believe that the less they know about what's going on with you, the less they're responsible for doing to help you.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I agree with you, I think it does need to be reworded a tad bit.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Your post is hard to understand to be honest. I'm not sure what you mean.
Helpful - 0
585414 tn?1288941302
People do accept my psychiatric disability (actually schizoaffective but related to bipolar) and partially because I insisted on it and educated them. As I've posted NAMI friend and family support groups are good. I was in some general disability rights groups and educated people from there. Now I'm helping a variety of family members accept their own disabilities (not all psychiatric). Its been a positive experience for all of us. Of course things have improved as my recovery has. When our moodswings impact on people that can't be ignored so sometimes its a matter of setting up accomodations around them.
Helpful - 0
539549 tn?1315981662
In terms of family?
well I have my mom who knows pretty much already that I can't handle certian stressors so when I tell her im manic or panicking she helps out alot although sometimes she is busy with her own schedule she still knows ten times more about bipolar than any other normal person I've met.......
but really its just her,...my other family would be real pissed if I did some of the same stuff I did with her...they'd be more like manic episode no you just have behavoir problmes ect........
Helpful - 0
574118 tn?1305135284
if this concern my family i mean parents then sure they are very supportive and understanding so i would go for 2 but for others i couldn't choose simply because nobody else knows about my illness. I am hiding it from anybody else even relatives i.e. uncles, cousins, etc.. because they will think i am crazy and i'll vote 4 in this case. So 2 for my small circle of family and 4 for the big ezz-family.so i preferred to vote 2
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I think that a lot of people including some even with the disease as I have found before with one guy who has it don't understand the seriousness of the situation and that some websites that have information about it are misinforming people with watered down information and/or excluded information that should be there.

T'is just what I noticed through observations.
Helpful - 0
Have an Answer?

You are reading content posted in the Bipolar Disorder Community

Top Mood Disorders Answerers
Avatar universal
Arlington, VA
Learn About Top Answerers
Didn't find the answer you were looking for?
Ask a question
Popular Resources
15 signs that it’s more than just the blues
Discover the common symptoms of and treatment options for depression.
We've got five strategies to foster happiness in your everyday life.
Don’t let the winter chill send your smile into deep hibernation. Try these 10 mood-boosting tips to get your happy back
A list of national and international resources and hotlines to help connect you to needed health and medical services.
Herpes sores blister, then burst, scab and heal.