One of the questions I am asked most often is, "What if my loved one refuses to get help for their bipolar disorder?"  This is a very serious problem, and the answer is complex, with no simple magic solution.

First of all, you need to know how dangerous this situation can be.  The National Institute on Mental Health (NIMH) says that one out of every five people with untreated bipolar disorder WILL die!

You certainly don't want your loved one to be one of those statistics, but if they refuse treatment, they are running that risk.

Without medication to balance their bipolar disorder, your loved one is susceptible to irrational thoughts, including thoughts about death and suicide.

There is a saying that, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink."

I would add, "But you can make the water salty, so that it WANTS to drink."

Applying that to your loved one's bipolar disorder means that, even though you can't force your loved one to get help for their bipolar disorder, you can do things so that they want to get that help for themselves.

For one thing, you can remind them of what happened the last time they had an episode, and express your concern that it could happen again if they don't get help.  Then, perhaps, they would seek treatment because of you, or at least because they don't want to go through another episode.