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Bipolar Relationships Can Work

Bipolar relationships are difficult to maintain, but they can work, if you work at them. No different from a non-bipolar relationship, if you love each other, you will do whatever it takes to make the relationship work. And there are three things that every relationship takes to work: communication, trust, and honesty.

Mood swings are a major characteristic of Bipolar Disorder, and you will find that even with medication to control the moods, you will still struggle with low moods here and there, and find that these low moods will have an influence on your relationship, especially if your partner does not have Bipolar Disorder him/herself, which is usually the case. So you will need an extra amount of understanding and compassion to make your relationship work.

In addition to communication, trust, and honesty, bipolar relationships depend on two things:

1. The degree of control that the partner with bipolar disorder has upon his/her moods.
2. The degree of understanding and patience that the non-bipolar partner has of the bipolar partner’s moods.

Although the pressure upon a bipolar relationship is greater than on a non-bipolar relationship, the effect of mood swings on your relationship can be minimized if you keep the following things in mind:

• Keep your perspective.
• Don’t trust the emotions of the moment.
• Keep your awareness of the deceptive nature of low moods.
• Evaluate your thoughts against the reality of the situation.
• Make allowances for the fact that you’re in a negative frame of mind.
• Understand that your perspective is being influenced by your mood.
• Be careful not to make a permanent decision based on a temporary feeling.
• Allow for the illusion of moods.
• Respond to the moods instead of react to them.
• Don’t blow things out of proportion.
• Let things go and wait until you’re in a better mood.
• Help your partner understand your mood swings.
• Try to see things from your partner’s point of view.

About the Author

Michele Soloway has dealt with bipolar disorder from a very young age. Her grandmother, mother, herself, and her teenage son all have the disorder. She also lost her sister to suicide because of bipolar disorder. Michele has a blog for bipolar survivors at http://bipolarsurvivor.blogspot.com, and is also a contributing writer to www.bipolarcentral.com.

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Featured Article:

Supporter - Don't Let Yesterday or Tomorrow Ruin Today

I want to start by asking you a question:

Does yesterday help with today when you're dealing with bipolar disorder?

Another question:

Does tomorrow help with today when you're dealing with bipolar disorder?

NO. To both questions.

Yesterday is gone, and tomorrow isn't here yet. The only day you have is today, and the only thing that's important is what you do with it.

Click here to read the entire aritcle

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