Bipolar

[MonkeyPoke]

Can someone with bipolar ever help themselves? When friends and family get sick of fire fighting manic episodes because the person won't take medication or stop drinking. You don't want to blame the person, it's their illness but where does illness stop and personal responsibility start?

Nobody knows what to do for the best but it's effecting other people trying to run damage limitation for this one person, I feel they're being selfish but I feel cross with myself being angry at them because they're mentally ill.

Not sure what to do, does tough love ever work?

The person needs to want help 😊 I have had mental health problems since 16 I’m now 26 & only recently gone to the gp for help & now being accessed for bipolar x

So what do we do? I worry they may end up in serious trouble.

You could get them sectioned if you think there that bad & won't take meds etc x

They have been sectioned before, family want them sectioned but mental health team are quite happy to believe when they say they are fine and to just monitor them in the community.

Maybe it's a case of tough love then that's the only reason I got help cause my mum gave me tough love other than that there not much you can do unfortunately

You could get them sectioned if you think there that bad & won't take meds etc x

Glad you’re getting help now Jenna, but you can’t just get someone sectioned :) that needs assessment from various doctors to ascertain the person is a danger to themselves/others and it needs the person to cooperate in the first place (unless you’re at the stage of calling 999 because they’ve escalated so far - been there with an ambulance & police called unfortunately)

OP do you have contact with the crisis team? Are you able to talk to them about your concerns?

When I’m well, I manage bipolar well. I’m sensible. When I’m ill I’m a bloody nightmare and I genuinely don’t understand that I’m being unreasonable.

People lose insight, particularly when they’re manic. You believe you’re well, that you’re doing fine and that there’s no problems as you leave a trail of destruction behind you.

That’s what you have to remember. It may seem horrendously selfish behaviour, but if you don’t have insight, it’s part of the illness.

Can I help myself? Yes, when I am well and I have insight then yes I handle myself very, well. I monitor my moods, I make sensible decisions, I put my family first. manic? No chance.

Problem now is MH services are so poor and limited that you have to reach actual grade A crisis point before you can get treatment. Last time I was discharged from services I was high as a kite,

She has self admitted for a few days but left with promises not to drink and to rest, she's been partying, meeting with tinder dates and god knows what else. I think drugs may be involved. She's paranoid and ranting and clearly unwell but the MH team seem powerless or unwilling to do anything.

KeemaNaan it's so hard to disassociate the illness from the person.

She refused to take any meds because of tiredness and weight gain but does that mean that things will continue like this with her being manic and then sectioned every 18 months for the rest of her life?

@KeemaNaan if you were manic and people politely insisted that you were paranoid because of your illness how would you take it? You obviously know you are bipolar but when you are manic do you just feel normal? Can you ever be 'talked down'?

From experience, I woundn’t believe them. When I’m ill, what I’m experiencing is absolutely real to me.

What tends to happens is people will acknowledge that its real for me, but disagree. Its tricky though. Imagine for a moment you looked outside the window and saw it was raining, so you went to get your mac and wellies on. The the people around you asked what you were doing as it was a bright and sunny day. YOU can see its raining and horrible outside. Why are they telling you it’s sunny? Are they working against you too? Are they trying to make you go mad? That’s what its like when I’m manic. What I believe is absolutely true and its like people telling me its not raining.

Trying direct denial never works with me, it just makes me argue my corner even more. People acknowledging my reality and not agreeing with me that its true, but accepting that’s what I feel is more likely to get me to listen.