Relationship Advice on Bipolar Disorder

What is "Bipolar Disorder?

This mood disorder used to be called “manic depressive” disorder. 

In other words, the afflicted person would experience “high highs” (the manic part) and “low lows” the depressive part).

One of our friends, scoffing at political correctness on this matter, describes it this way:

“When a guy acts like he has PMS, he’s probably bipolar.”

There’s a lot of research going on right now on bipolar disorder, and we suggest anyone who truly wants to know more about it should do some digging on their own.

We’ll just give you the headline version here.

Someone who’s bipolar tends to have mood swings.

Duh!

As we all know, mood swings can complicate relationships in small ways everyday, but the kind of mood swings a bipolar person experiences can lead to really, really big problems.

They may act impulsively, like quitting a job or running up a huge amount of credit card debt.

They may get really angry and say all kinds of horrible things to you one day, and treat you like a goddess the next.

They’re hard to figure. You never know what they’re going to “throw at you” emotionally on any given day, or any given minute for that matter.

Bipolar charactersitics

Here are some of the clues that you may be in a relationship with someone who’s bipolar.

Manic phase:

• heightened energy, creativity, and euphoria,

• talking a mile a minute, sleeping very little, hyperactivity,

• feelings of greatness, invincibility. It’s almost like a cocaine high, minus the cocaine,

• reckless or inappropriate sexual activity,

• anger, irritability, and aggressiveness; picking fights, lashing out when others don’t go along with their plans, and blaming anyone who criticizes their behavior.

Depressive phase:

• feeling of hopelessness,

• fatigue and listlessness. It’s typical to hear someone say they “just couldn’t get out of bed…”

• loss of interest in activities they used to enjoy,

• mental sluggishness, problems with memory and concentration,

• changes in appetite,

• weight changes,

• feelings of self-loathing, shame, or guilt.

Unlike some of the other challenges you face in a relationship such as self-esteem issues or codependence, bipolar disorder can sometimes be treated with medications.

Once again, if you think you may be in a relationship with someone who has bipolar tendencies, we encourage you to do a lot of research on your own and recognize up front that you may be in for a very rocky road—and we’re not talking about the ice cream.

Also see: Passive Aggressive Behavior, Self-esteem Issues, Narcissism, Domineering Personality, Submissive Personality, "Knight in Shining Armor", Codependence and Shaming and Guilt.