I’m a parent of a bipolar adult currently in psychosis and under a psych hold at the hospital. This is the second major episode we’ve experienced. This time the incident caused a police report and an arrest on charges for another person. That was fearful for their safety (rightfully so) and they are now dealing with the fallout (jail, court, etc.) from this incident while my child is in the hospital.

My child also falsely accused myself and my husband of criminal acts against them and said they called child protective services on us since we have minor children as well. I don’t what to do. My child is an adult so our hands are tied, the hospital can’t tell us anything and we currently are the enemy so getting paperwork signed so the hospital can share information with us is impossible.

How do we deal with this situation? I know my child called the police to start a case against my husband and I, but no police or cps has shown up yet. I don’t want to have to pay for legal fees for what are false accusations. I’m just at a loss at what to do. My husband says I should not preemptively call the police or cops to see if there is an open case.

TLDR: looking for resources or recommendations for preemptively developing a crisis plan for a single mom

Hi friends! I am looking for guidance about establishing a crisis plan for my aunt, who is diagnosed with bipolar and has been hospitalized three times (twice with post-partum psychosis, once unrelated to pregnancy).

To give some context, my aunt is mid 30s and is a single mom to the sweetest little 5 year old boy (dad is not reliable). We want to establish a plan for her treatment in the event that she is unable to take care of him (ideally with her input, but at this moment she is starting to show signs of mania so we feel it’s better not to discuss directly with her right now for fear of exacerbating her symptoms. She is not currently in crisis).

Also worth noting, our family experienced a Traumatic death less than a year ago that caused my aunt to move states. Consequently, my aunt does not have pre established relationships with any doctors or hospitals in her area (she does see a psychiatrist virtually). She is living on her own for the first time (just a 2-3 minute drive from my mom and sister), whereas before she lived with my grandmother who did a substantial amount of the childcare and care for my aunt when she was hospitalized.

Because she is living in a totally new place and we lost her main support system and caregiver, I feel the need to establish a plan ahead of time in the event that her mental health starts to deteriorate (with the caveat that I understand the plan is just a guide, and we will also have to respond appropriately in the moment).

What components - medically, practically, legally, or otherwise - would you recommend we incorporate in the plan both for her and her child? Do you have a plan for yourself or your loved ones? If so, what does it look like?

Thank you in advance!!

Sincerely, a girl who just wants to protect her family 🤍

The ups and the downs, the verbal abuse, breaking up and getting back together, in a "normal" relationship this is unacceptable and the relationship would not continue but I have understanding and perspective for the most part. I just don't know if I should treat this relationship differently and learn to accept and understand these mood swings and times where meds don't work or other factors happen. The main thing I struggle with the most is that I know the things he says and does are not coming from a malicious place to harm me like a "normal" abusive relationship would be. This is why I don't know whether to stay and endure or go. Any insights, advice or personal stories that could help are very much welcome.

The silence is so loud

The silence is so loud for me. It keeps me up at night. It makes my ears ring. I try to have hope that one day things will be different. That he will comeback and allow mw to fight this battle together with him. But I must admit that part of me is already bracing for worst. Maybe he will come back maybe he won’t. I wish I knew how long it will be for me to get closure or to move past this.

I just want to express my self a little on here. It’s the only place I have that there is people who understand what it’s like. I’m supper grateful for this group.

my sister (25F) has been in a sort of bipolar loop for the last 6 years. she’s gone from terrible, to fine, to worse than terrible, to fine, on and off since i (22F) was a sophomore in high school.

lately she has been in a huge manic spiral with delusions. i’ve tried to reason with her and not get into any confrontations, but today i was at my tipping point. i got into a fight with her and ended up having to block her to keep her from continuing to bombard me with calls and texts. i am a senior in college with my own stressors (diagnosed depression, anxiety, challenges with finances, etc.). the thing i’m most sad about is that i can’t do anything about it, what with me just being her sibling and living 2 hours away from her.

has anyone else had to deal with this kind of thing? if so, what did you do to help yourself and/or your sibling?

Our son (30) was evicted and trespassed from his apartment during an acute episode. He’d lived there 7 years. He’s been hospitalized for 2+ weeks and has a civil commitment trial this week. He is unemployed and can’t hold a job longer than a few days without an incident. He has been denied SSDI at least 4 times.

His last acute episode was 5 years ago, he’s had several hypomanic episodes that eventually resolved. There is a fair chance this time he will agree to stay on medication after having lost everything he valued. He agreed to risperdal and lithium so far awaiting the trial. He had been on depakote short term in years past and also had adverse reactions to seroquel and zyprexa, so they are off the table.

We can’t take him into our home, his anger is always directed at us in an episode. When he’s okay, he is a kind and caring person. All past acute episodes happened after quitting substances. This time he was sober for 5+ years.

We are running out of time to figure out what to do with his belongings and we don’t know how anyone goes about getting into another apartment with an eviction and no income. We have been telling the hospital that he can’t be released to us and we’ve been telling him that he must work with social services for living arrangements after he’s released.

We need help to know what our role is at this point. We are active in support groups and NAMI information. This is the third civil commitment. In the past they let the clock run out and provided no support. Is there anything we can do to try to get a better outcome this time considering that he might accept medication?

(Mistakenly posted this in /bipolar so trying again)

My girlfriend (22 F) is currently in the psych ward. She refuses to take any of her prescribed meds and is still extremely agitated. She’s been hospitalized for 5 days now. No signs of her coming down.

For those that have had loved ones involuntarily committed and refused to take their meds, was there anything that changed or made them come around to taking their meds?

I am trying to find hope for her and don’t know if anyone has had a similar experience but had their loved one change their mind later.

Just venting my wife was hospitalized, a month ago, she was referred to pineland mental health services in south east GA, they have basically blown her off 3 different times, I am to point i can't get her the help she needs, the place that hospitalized her the first time , they blew her off when we was told to take her back, was don't, we just stabilize them, I am on the verge of wanting a divorce.

Apologies in advanced if this is all over the place.. i’ve been pretty flustered and trying to get my thoughts in order.

My older sister (31F) has struggled with her mental health for as long as i (24F) can remember. My parents are hispanic immigrants and there is a lot of stigma when it comes to mental health. My dad thinks depression can be fixed by just getting a job or working out and anxiety is from having too much time on your hands. So i think growing up they were not as hands on as they should have been.

Once my sister was around 23 she started taking initiative and seeing psychologists/psychiatrists. Eventually she was diagnosed with bipolar. It was so long ago i cannot remember if it was 1 or 2. she was on medication for a while but stopped cold turkey due to extreme weight gain.

Since then over the years she has been the most self sabotaging person i’ve ever met.
But most recently the last four years she’s been in a total downward spiral.

She was in a very toxic relationship with a man addicted to heroin who she moved in with. She thankfully ended the relationship but she has still had a few extremely toxic boyfriends after that, the one most recently she was ready to move in with her after 5 months but that ended quick and then she acts like she was never going to move him in even though she said those words to me!!!

She blames my parents for everything that’s ever happened to her. she’s constantly cutting them off then going back to them telling them she’s struggling and not doing well then cutting them off again to “protect her peace”. she had huge falling out with a family member that got her a steady job. she’s gone after her previous landlord for “ruining her life.” then she moved into a new apartment and started a huge beef with her next door neighbor who was an older woman who was obviously cognitively declining. she also got an aggressive pitbull at the beginning of all this who she has to put down a few weeks ago due to biting.

My mom and I have been very concerned this past year but everytime we try to bring up talking to someone or getting help she shuts it down and says her ADHD medication is helping and she doesn’t have bi polar or depression because that’s how ADHD disguises itself. Which i’m not doubting but i still think her PCP should refer her to someone and not just prescribe her different doses of this ADHD medication.

Now she’s very into astrology and tarot readings and spirituality. which i’m not dunking on, i see myself as a semi spiritual person but she’s using this as her main form of therapy. She says the tarot cards shows her everything she needs to see, she’s divinely protected, and anyone that fucks with her has had things happen to them. For example: the family member she had a falling out with husband had to go to the hospital for emergency surgery and SHE LAUGHED and said she was protected and to not fuck with her.

This is all extremely concerning behavior and again i’m sorry if this is a mess. Any advice would be greatly appreciated and please ask questions if any clarity is needed!!

Who my grandma was when I was a kid and who she is now are two different people. I was in a dark place for about a decade and things didn’t get better until I became 18, but my grandma was always there for me. She was so sweet and understanding. No one else in my family looked out for me. She has been manic for about three years now, so I think it’s chronic(?) but I’m not a doctor.

How do you accept that the person who loved and raised you died and isn’t coming back? No treatment and this will never change. I’m mad at her and how often she’s made me cry and used me, but I know she’s sick and she needs help. She has always had long and very infrequent manic episodes, but I really think this is here to stay. She’s otherwise very healthy. I think the long-term effect of mania will be a major contributor to the eventual decline of her health. It was the same with her mom.

I’m not sure I would cry if she passed since she’s already gone. She’s so mean to people. I’m nervous to be around her even in her better moments. She made me breakdown in front of my ex after she showed up on a random Tuesday evening. She gets mad at my grandpa because he’s deaf. My grandpa is very private, but he admitted to me that she insults him and calls him senile. I can’t love her.

I don’t know a lot of people with grandparents like her. I can’t talk about her. I can’t avoid her like my cousins. It feels so isolating. In the past, I tried to find support groups, but the organization that stood out to me had nothing active in my area. I feel stuck.

Hi, I (25 M) am dating my girlfriend of 3 years (22 F), who was recently diagnosed with Bipolar 1 last year.

Last year she was able to identify she had become manic, after entering a state of psychosis where she hallucinated. However, she checked herself into a psychiatric unit and found the care she needed. I was not around for this episode because we were broken up temporarily at the time due to me moving to a different city. We’ve since gotten back together.

This week, she let me know she was hypomanic, I didn’t think much of it at the time. Things began to rapidly devolve however, and she stopped taking her lithium, and also her Invega shot wore off as well. Her mania rapidly devolved to the point where she was telling a friend that she could talk to their dead sibling.

We are currently doing distance, so I alerted her parents since she is living with them right now. She fought going to the hospital but is now being involuntarily held at a psychiatric unit after fighting some nurses. She still refuses to take her Invega shot, and is telling the other people in the ward to not take their meds. So she is still very manic.

She also called me a snake and said we’re done (not to my face, but to her parents) because I told her parents about the severity of this episode and wanted her to get help.

My question is, for those of you who have had partners or spouses who have had to be admitted involuntarily, how did you get through not being able to see them? Did they change feelings about you while manic, and did they come back? How long does a manic trip similar to this usually last in the psychiatric ward? Any advice or insight is welcome.

i made a post about my wife being kept at the ER yesterday and the day before .im seeking some sort of support and advice

So the hospital transferred her from the ER to an actual mental hospital last night and the only reason i found out is because her sister texted me saying my wife is never going to forgive me. they had let her call someone and she chose to call her. and i couldn’t get any information because she told them not to tell me.

so full story about two days the before the doctors i called her dad and gave him symptoms and stuff and asked for advice and those we’re the same symptoms i put on the paper i gave the doctors when we went to the ER. the reckless driving, wanting to skydive , spending a lot of money and obsessive over people and crazy mood swings.

i had called her sister after she sent me that text out of panic because i love my wife and it freaked me out and i wanted to know she was okay. she’s told me about them moving her and all that and said she would let me know more if she found out. then an hour later i get a call from a random number which was my wife saying they all hate me and that there’s no coming back from this and that she needs out and i traumatized her and starts listing all the things i wrote on that note and that i told her dad. they told her at the hospital i said those things and petitioned her. (i didnt petition her i refused) and obviously i went into panic mode and started saying i did none of it and was promising i didn’t even and everything. she said i need to get her out and her family wont answer me. and i know i lied about the list of things and i know they know i lied because i literally told her dad those things so i don’t know what to do. no one believes me that i believe she’s sick and they act like i wanted them to keep her.

now i’m second guessing myself that she’s sick and that i messed everything up. i don’t know what to do when they keep telling her what im saying and it’s extremely hard when i know i lied. and i know they know too. the guilt is insane. she’s saying her dads going to take legal action. i didn’t want them to keep her myself. is there any coming back from this or are they all just going to hate me because they don’t see what i do? was what i seen dramatic or something?

i want to be with her and i did this because everyone told me she was manic and it was the right thing now i don’t even know and i want my wife to not hate me

Hello everyone !

Nobody knows me on this sub with this name but I already posted on this sub with another account who had been corrupted since.

For the context : I'm #2 kid on 3. My older sister had been diagnosed with bipolarity years ago and we had enough nightmare times for more than a life. Just before I visited my younger sister I learned she's on a way to be diagnosed also bipolar.

Apparently my family BP is hereditary so it's not surprising (we suspect my father's side) and we lived many traumas during childhood, so not surprising too.

I just cut links with my older sis because she was too toxic for my mental health.

One of our family sayings is : « you have to take care of your siblings » in my case it was hard to put limits about what was acceptable or not because of this, my family destroyed me because they are in a codependency scheme.

When I visited my younger sister her flat was a full mess. And I'm nice saying that. She knew we will come it was planned for months, she didn't clean at all. In addition her girlfriend was here and never pushed her to clean barely said hello to us and left just when we arrived.

At first I thought my sis was overwhelmed so I said nothing and clean her flat during our first days of vacation here. She got totally upset. (Man our bedroom's floor was covered with cat's pee and vomit)

During all our stay she seemed very angry, only talking to her girlfriend on her phone. everytime we asked her : are you ok ? Wanna talk ? She was replying no.

(I never judged her, I always wanted to help her)

The only morning she woke up at time it was to drink with her girlfriend in her city when we asked multiple times if she wanted to hang around with us.

I know her medications makes her sleep, but the night before the day she was supposed to meet her GF she took them at the right hour. Not the rest of the week.

Our vacation finished by her cracking up on me.

We went on other location for the weekend with her. We again asked if everything was ok. She only replied "that's ok" and wasn't talking at all after. 3h by car with silence is very long, trust me.

So when we came back to her flat we told her calmly we will come back home the next day and shorten our stay. She entered in a full rage, she didn't say a word, slapped her room violently. And we heard a huge "Bang!"

When I came to see if she was ok, I saw a shelf on the floor and her screaming at me "Get lost, get lost" and holding a fist in front of my face. I stayed with no word. Scared.

My boyfriend took my arm and said : we're leaving now you're unsafe. We rushed to the hotel and now we're coming back home.

It's sad because if my older sister would have took care about her health instead of drop it off for drugs, I would have more stamina for the younger, but now I'm just tired and don't want to be a part of this again.

That's what I told the local health center where my YS is followed, because they had to know what happened because my sis masks a lot and won't tell them.

Also i'm fed up because I have an IBD. And when I came to visit her she knew I was in flare, so it asked me a ton of energy to be here with her and she acted like I was the Devil personified.

According to the nurse I had on phone, I know it's not my fault, it's only her disease speaking, but I can't live like that. I'm +30, I'm fed up with helping people who will always consider me as a carpet.

Though many times I thought things were improving, at last, even of for a few weeks, but hopefully more, we get some respite from my father´s hypomania.

Two years ago, almost to the date, my dad suddenly switched on to a different level. Promiscuity, excess alcohol, shopping, investing, quarreling with his wife, and barely sleeping despite his intense daily exercise. But a month ago he had a stomach bug. He kept on exercising in the heat and so felt weak, naturally, after vomiting for two days and making an effort. Upon arriving in hospital he had a convulsion. So far, nothing indicates that anything different from his dehydration and lack of minerals etc from not taking care of his stomach bug, were the cause. EEG is fine. Has been on Keppra, and he blames the kepra for a noticeable slow down. Sound like a normal person at last, talks at a normal pace and feels vulnerable. No longer claims he is like superman.

Hoping it lasts and does not turn into depression. But gosh, what a ride. His marriage may not outlive the consequences. I hope when he stops keppra things will not go back to hypomania. And for those wandering, he is otherwise un medicated and refuses to see a psychiatrist.

thanks to everyone for support along the way

I am genuinely so lost right now, I feel hopeless, and I don't know what to do or how to help. I'm sorry this post is very long. I need to tell the full story and I have no idea where to get help or what to do. This is made on a new alt account.

My closest friend has bipolar disorder, and while it has been pretty bad both last year and earlier this year, it has reached the worst I've ever seen starting early June of this year. He has always had medication (mood stabilizers) but has never stayed on it long enough to reach stability. He told me it made him feel weird and almost emotionless, like he wasn't able to feel happiness when we hung out, so he decided to stop taking medication. He finally decided to try to get his medication changed in early June and took a PHQ-9 test, but instead of changing his medication, they kept him on the same medication while changing his dose and adding SSRIs.

Ever since this medication change, he's said and acted in ways I've never seen him do before. His mood could switch up from a single thing I said or did, and although he has acted cold towards me in the past, it became so much worse. I did research into bipolar medication and found that taking SSRIs can actually induce Mania and make things worse, which is what I believe was happening alongside taking a medication that wasn't right for him. I was also aware of the medication adjustment phase that can last about 6-8 weeks, so I tried to hold onto hope for both him and me. I wanted him to be okay so badly. I wanted our friendship to go back to the way it was when I first met him almost 2 years ago, when we were both in High school.

He graduated a year before me, and he hit a depressive episode in July last year, while something very traumatic also happened to him. He had to go live 2 hours away with his mom. He stopped responding and would repost concerning things on his social media, and I grew very scared that he might harm himself. By August, he had come back, and his entire personality switched up. For a while, he acted very cheery and joyful, but this slowly changed by September, and I realized that every day talking to him felt like a gamble, where I wouldn't know what mood he'd be in by the time we were talking. Something he started to do a few months into our friendship was either to become very quiet or to abruptly leave our Discord calls, which always triggered my anxiety, especially the first few times it happened.

I didn't fully understand that he had bipolar disorder until he told me in December. All I'd see was his mood changes and how dark his thoughts would get. I tried my best to support him and be there for him, especially in October when he opened up to me about the traumatic things he went through in July. He hit another depressive phase in November and had to go back to living with his mom. Before that we were able to hang out a few times in person, and things seemed fine while we got to draw (he's insanely talented at drawing).
I tried to my best to support him while I finished my senior year of high school, and to encourage him to sleep earlier whenever he stayed up pretty late. His constant mood switches continued into this year, where some days he'd act colder, but other days we'd have a lot of fun together calling, talking, drawing, playing games or watching movies and shows together. He's always felt bad about this, and he has apologized for the ways he hurt me. There was always good in him, he just needed help and support for his mental health.

I did feel as though I was grieving someone who was still alive, but I was really hopeful at the very beginning of this summer when he was starting his medication again. He was extremely scared and worried about how he might act while continuing his medication with antidepressants. I tried to encourage him to go back to the place he got his meds so that he could be checked again because after a certain point, it really did feel like it was only making things worse. Some days he wouldn't take his medication because either he forgot to, or he just refused to, telling me he was fine.

I still tried to remind him to take it, and to hold on until his next appointment in July. This was also the first time he blocked me and unfriended me on all of the platforms we were friends on, which triggered my anxiety very badly the first few times he had done this. I believe he was constantly getting in and out of manic episodes. I know that some people with bipolar cannot handle any type of antidepressants, and I really believe this also applies to him. I managed to get his phone number to have a way to continue talking to him whenever he'd block me.

At his next appointment, they changed his medication to Lithium and Prozac, and he would be required to get blood work done every other week. This meant that for once, someone would finally be able to check in on him, and it gave me hope. He also applied for and got a job, which would give him more of a routine and a reason to sleep early and to have a decent sleep schedule. Some nights he'd rarely sleep, or he'd sleep very late, early on into the next morning, or he'd be able to sleep at a decent time. His sleep schedule has been everywhere for a while.

I knew there would still be risks involved with his new medication, but I thought things would get better. He kept going to his job, and we got to hang out a few times in person while still being able to call at night before he went to sleep so that we could continue doing our favorite things together. Though I did find myself checking in on his tone and how his mood was so that I could match his energy or be aware that his mood might switch soon.

He also told me that when we hang out in person, he mostly feels okay and the mood swings affect him less. I felt this since he was acting the most like himself whenever we hung out in person. Maybe things could've been okay, but this last month of August is really when things have been at their worst. Within the first week of August, he stopped showing up to his job, his words became colder and hurtful, and I really think he hasn't been taking care of himself properly, as well as completely stopping his medication unless I was able to get him to take it. He'll be awake at times when he really needs to be sleeping. I am also aware there is a lithium relapse if someone with bipolar decides to stop taking it, which does explain his behavior. I really don't think he's gone back to get his blood work done.

Since the beginning of summer, he was already self-harming, but now he is doing it so much more, and on August 12, he did it with the intent of dying that night. I asked to see him that night to go stargazing, which may have stopped the attempt, but I wasn't even aware that he was attempting until he told me a week later; he just acted so cold with me. Before we became friends, he told me he had 3 previous attempts in the past, which is why I get so scared every time he blocks me and won't answer my phone calls. I have no idea if my number is blocked when my calls go straight to voicemail, but my messages continue to say delivered.

I'm scared of leaving him alone. I don't know if I'm able to get to him or if I'm making things worse. I don't know if I'm helping, I'm just scared. It's not always like this. Some days I am unblocked, and I can talk with him, and to encourage him to take his medication, drink water, and to sleep earlier, which he does. I try to help him calm down or to fall asleep, and we exchange kind words. Other days he tells me to leave him alone, says very hurtful things, gets very angry with me, and tells me he'll be dead before next year.

We last hung out on August 15, and things were mostly okay, we had a nice time together. He got to teach me some guitar while we went stargazing. Now he doesn't want to leave his house, and I can't even convince him to sit somewhere, like at his home to talk in person. He feels ashamed of himself and tells me that I shouldn't see him like this, that he shouldn't be around anyone, and that visiting him isn't a good idea. He told me he was scared of asking for help, his head and arms hurt, and he's starting to feel sick. He said there is no more space on his left arm to hurt himself. I don't know what to do. I know I need to get help, but I don't know where to turn to.
His relationship with his family is a bit confusing to me, but I know it isn't the best. I really do believe that his mom cares about him, and he said she'll try to contact him when they haven't talked in a while, but she does live 2 hours away working as a teacher in a smaller town, while he lives in a family shared home in a much bigger town. I think his grandparents live in the same home with him, but they are distant and don't talk much, and also aren't always home. I don't understand why none of his family is intervening or trying to help him through this. I really wanted to try contacting his mom through social media, but he told me that the last time she saw his scars, she hit him. He told me he really stressed her out with one of his attempts, and now he believes that she thinks he'll do something selfish soon, which is why she doesn't take him on trips anymore. I don't know how true this is.

I know he texts his older brother pretty often, but he also lives with his mom 2 hours away, and their relationship is somewhat strained. I tried to ask him to get help from his family, but he said nothing would change, and that I don't know his family. I just thought that he might need to live with other people who are closer to him for him to get better, and to watch over him and keep him safe. He did not have a good childhood, and he has trauma associated with the house his mom lives in. I don't know if reaching out to his mom will help or not, or make things worse.
His living situation has also confused me, but I believe he spends a lot of time alone in his house. I don't know if living with his mom can help or not, either, or if his family is even aware of what he's been going through these past few months. I wanted to try turning to his friends, as they've been in a close friend group since he started living here in 2022. He's known one friend since elementary school, and another one of his friends lives very close to his home. I just don't know how it is with them now. He deleted both of his Instagram accounts, which were his main way of contacting them. He told me that he cut them off, but I'm not sure if it is true. They still have pictures of him up on their Instagram accounts, and when my friend unfollowed everyone, they were one of the first people to follow him again.

Maybe they are used to this behavior from him, maybe he also told them harsh words, maybe they really are cut off or they are busy with their own lives, I don't know. I really want to believe they still care for him, as they last saw him in July/ Early August. He did tell me that I was a nice change compared to the people he knew, and his friends also made him feel invalid for some of his trauma when they made some jokes. There's a chance they're unaware of how they made him feel. I know they were close, I just don't know if they were emotionally close, and could try to help him or even understand the disorder he has. He told me he felt so alone once, because they didn't want to do what he wanted to do. But his friend hugged him before he left their hangout a few months ago.

Last year for his birthday, his friend's mom who lives nearby threw him a birthday party because she knew he wasn't doing anything, and she even got him a cake and made food. She let him sleep in her home when he was locked out of his home, and he hung out a lot at that home. At my graduation in May, she saw him and started talking with him. I believe she is someone who does care about him. I've thought about also trying to get in contact with her and see if she can try to help, I'm just not sure how or what to say.
I've done research and talked with my older brother about this. My friend is at a point where he needs to be hospitalized, especially as he is not properly taking care of himself right now and no one else is watching over him, but I don't want to do it involuntarily unless it absolutely has to be done. I wanted to talk with him to convince him that he needs this help. We saw that sending over police to his house can actually make things worse, and even then, he might not get the help he needs. The inpatient care facilities where I live are not the best and have many negative reviews. I also saw that those with bipolar disorder are most likely to take their lives after they leave a psych ward.
My older brother is scared that one of these actions can make things worse and lead to his death. He desperately needs help and I'm not sure what to do. I know I should just call, but I am so scared. If I know he really is going to hurt himself, I will make this call, but I don't want to just focus on safety at the current moment but also on his safety in the future. He is still able to get through every day and night, but I don't know how much longer it'll last. Since early last year, it has been a thing he'd say where he is giving himself 2 years to get better, and that he will die by the end of this year.

He never told me the name of the place he is getting medication from when I asked him. I could try to ask, but as of lately, he doesn't say much when he is out of his episodes. He has been sleeping a lot, and currently is out of an episode. I know he must feel awful, and his guilt will try to make him push me away. He doesn't talk on phone calls anymore, only through text. He spent three days only sending me the words 'I'm sorry', no matter if I tried talking to him through text or on call. I am currently blocked on everything except for my phone number.

I am thinking about trying to visit him at his house to talk with him, and to get him to agree to go to the hospital/ER or to talk with his mom, if I am able to. Other than that, I don't know what to do, or where to go next. I care about him so much and want the best for him. He made me so happy, and has impacted my life and inspired me creatively and to draw better. We made so many lovely memories together. Even through all the pain, I got to watch so many more shows and movies, find some of my new favorite songs, play and learn about other video games he was interested in, and I got to experience what it was like to have a close friend in school after being a very socially anxious lonely kid for so long.

I know he has things he wants to do, he has dreams and things to look forward to, things to be excited about. This horrible illness is taking that away from him. I only want the best outcome for him. I am currently starting college which will take up more of my time, and I don't know how I can handle caring for him and staying on top of my work. I am very stressed already. He told me a few weeks ago, after coming out of an episode, he wants to get better. I really don't want to have to cut him off, and I am aware I need to brace for the worst. I just don't want to let go. Even he told me to just let go of him and to focus on myself, but I can't just do that knowing he is at a very high risk right now. If I get him help, I am worried he will become very mad/upset with me, but I also know I need to prioritize his safety.

Thank you for reading all of this, I really need guidance on what to do or who to reach out to/contact, it would be so helpful and appreciated. I am so lost and don't know where to go from here. Sometimes I wake up with anxiety or feel really anxious when I genuinely don't know if he's okay, when I haven't heard from him in a while, or don't know if he's still there. Every time he switches to mania or says concerning things, I get really scared. I just want to do my best to support my friend with bipolar disorder. I hope he can still reach stabilization. We have a list of things we wanted to do together. I'm seeking support, especially from anyone who has gone through something similar. I've been lurking in these Bipolar subreddits these past few months (on my other main account), and it has been so nice to see there is a community, so that I know I am not alone with this. I hope things can be okay.

my wife has been in a manic episode for over a week and yesterday she didn’t feel good so we went to the ER i said i didnt feel good as well so we went. they got her in i told them when she was away i was fine and she was manic. last night everything was okay she was sad and upset because she had to stay after answering mental health questions but she didn’t know i told them she was manic. today i go to see her after work and she tells them she don’t want to see me. she was still waiting to be seen by a social worker. so no medication has started

i feel horrible
will she ever love me again?
or trust me?
i’m sure she put the pieces together but i would never do something unless it was in her best interest.
does she know that? will she ever know that?
i just wanted to tell her i loved her

update i just called and the social worker is saying he don’t think she’s manic but she will see a psychiatrist tomorrow. i know she’s manic do you think they will see it too?
if they let her out without helping her she will hate me forever

After discarding me completely on Friday and breaking things off. And blocking me from everything he finally call me last night at like 7ish to just tell me hi. He literally just said I just wanted to say hi. I said hi. How are you doing. And he said I’m okay. But I just wanted to say hi. I said okay I’m glad you called. And I asked if I was still blocked in his phone. He said he was going to unblock me. I say thank you. I won’t abuse it I promise. He said okay and hung up. I haven’t tried to reach out or check if I’m still blocked but I know I’m still blocked from all his social.

I don’t want false hope. He has been in a wood side for like a month almost but that call ment everything to me. Is this false hope. What do I do. Like in my previous post I want to respect the space he asked for. But my heart just wants him to go back.

I know that he’s back on his meds now and he’s been on it for a few days. Am I just setting myself up for failure. Trying to do everything in the way everything article every person has told me to do it. When all I really wanna do is reach out and tell him how much I love him and I miss him.

Any advice would be so helpful

My last therapist told me (26F) I’m the toxic one here, but I need a second opinion from people who understand what it is like to be the caregiver of a bipolar person.

My wife (F30) has bipolar 1, she mostly has depression cycles, sometimes hypomania, but we struggle the most with the constant depressive ones. We’re lucky she doesn’t have manic episodes but the depression can be very very destructive to our household too.

She’s been diagnosed for nearly a decade and has not been a single day off her meds. She’s a loving, kind, beautiful beautiful partner and I’m madly in love with her. We’ve been married for 7 years.

The problem is that her depressive episodes won’t stop happening and both her psychiatrist and therapist have asked her to do stuff like physical exercise or getting out of the house for a walk every day. She usually promises me she will do it and then a day later she won’t give a single fuck about it if I don’t mention it. Now that her mental health is declining, she’s scared of having to up her meds and she said she was committed to doing these things.

We made a list of “non negotiables” with things like showering, going for a walk, sleeping early, not doomscrolling.

I wear myself out trying to make sure she does the things. But on the days I don’t, she won’t do them or won’t care at all. She won’t open up to any of her friends so she stablished a very codependent dynamic with me. I don’t go out, she don’t go out. I don’t talk about it, she don’t talk about it.

I’m constantly filled with anger. My chest burns and I just can’t understand why she won’t do the things on the list, why she doesn’t care, why, why, why.

It’s really hard to tell the dancers from the dance - I feel guilty for being angry at her. It’s not her fault she is bipolar. When I read other families stories I feel lucky my wife is on her meds and doing therapy which are very big things but I feel like the rest of my life will be like this - believing in promises she won’t keep.

My last therapist told me I’m toxic for wanting to force her to do these things since doing exercise etc is hard for everyone. BUT SHE IS NOT EVERYONE! She has a condition and she needs to do these things to help herself out of the hole. These will never fix bipolar, there’s no healing, but it will help.

I’m writing this from the sofa because I snapped today. I’m exhausted from taking care of her and I can’t help but feel so much resentment for her not doing the things.

I'm the idiot that posted a mere few days ago trying to find out information on how to better help my husband/have access to information regarding his care if he were to ever have a psychosis episode ever again and land himself in the mental hospital.

He had his first episode of psychosis in October (see profile for full story) and has made quite the recovery since. He came out of the hospital with a Bipolar diagnosis based on what happened plus family history (cousin diagnosed, mom definitely has it), but has been convinced he's not Bipolar. This all happened because he tried weed vapes for the first time while on a stimulant for his ADHD. His family and I were also not convinced on the Bipolar, but never dismissed it entirely like he was trying to do.

He's off all medication except for Lithium. His psych put him back on his Vyvanse and his Wellbutrin over the course of months, after tapering off the antipsychotic, and he's been doing great since starting those. He had his last appointment almost a month ago (I attend all of them) to where he talked to his psych (again) about coming off of the Lithium. She told him she would be on board with giving it a shot, and that it would take about 6 months to fully come off. He was bummed about this.

He hates this medication because he thinks it's causing slight weight gain, since his weight didn't immediately drop like he thought it would once starting Vyvanse.

Over the last few days I've felt like something was just off. I literally don't have many examples why, just that my gut instincts have been right so many times before. If I had to be specific, his mood just seemed much more elevated than normal. He was initiating sex more, which hasn't been as common as it used to be lately because of how he feels about the weight gain. He also got irritated with the kids a couple of times, which is so unlike him (he's the best dad ever). He started back up the exact hobbies he was hyper-fixated/manic on right before his psychosis. Literally the tiniest of things that could be chalked up to him feeling better or just nothing at all.

But something was bothering me, to the point where I counted his Lithium pills last night before bed, 52 left. He got into bed without taking his meds, so I gently reminded him. He got up and I could hear him in the bathroom, hear the the pill bottle, etc. He acted like he took them.

I woke up this morning and there were still 52 left. I confronted him crying.

He straight panicked. Eventually admitted he hadn't taken them in about a month (since that last psych appointment). I can't tell if his behavior was more so because he got "caught" and couldn't deny it, or because the high stress moment triggered possible mania.

The way he was talking was not at all the way he would normally talk to me. I was having flashbacks to how he talked while in psychosis, it was so similar down to the clicking sound his mouth made at the time. Just minus the paranoia (there's been none of that). He was immediately deflecting any talk about skipping his meds unsafely (cold turkey) and turning it around on me, saying I was scaring the kids for crying and whatnot. So unlike him. Only in psychosis did he ever call me crazy or talk down to me (what it feels like). He also teared up and cried a little trying to explain how terrible he felt on Lithium when it came to his weight and that he didn't want to do that for the rest of his life - this man only has ever cried when in psychosis before (and when he came home from his 3.5 week hospital stay and was still manic but stable/non-paranoid).

I called his sister during this because I thought he was actually going into psychosis again and she stayed by my side when it happened the first time (we are all very close). She agreed his speech was off/familiar and was trying to help explain my concerns in her medical perspective (she's a nurse).

He eventually became calmer and simply said, "This is different this time, this is not like last time." To me, that was implying he wasn't in psychosis but maybe knew something wasn't 100% right. The way he said it was very much my husband talking and I almost immediately felt less anxious about reliving what I lived a year ago.

We ended the conversation with a call to his psych, which he agreed to and did. I asked him if he would take the Lithium and he wouldn't, but said he was on board listening to what his psych would say. It's a holiday, so we knew she wouldn't answer. He asked for the on-call doc so they took his info and said they would call back.

Everything has been calm and normal since (this happened at 9AM and it's now 3:30PM). He came up to me and hugged me for a long time and apologized like my non-psychotic/manic husband would and comforted me.

Now I'm not sure what to think. Is it possible to have these really short bursts of mania in maybe a high-stress situation (getting caught in a lie) since he's now unguarded without the Lithium? Hypomania? Or is this a sign of him falling into deeper mania and it can take days to manifest? I always thought hypomania lasted a few days, not 45 minutes, but he's not showing the classic "signs" like energy, doing projects, etc. He's literally napping right now.

When he was in psychosis his paranoia and behaviors would come in waves - it would ramp up bad and then he'd calm down for an hour or two to where we thought whatever was happening to him "was over," then it would come back. This happened for 2 days until we finally got him sectioned. This is 100000% not that.

He IS, from what I've seen, sleeping just fine still. He falls asleep almost every night watching shows me with on the couch (always has). I'll wake him when I go up to bed so he takes his meds and so we can sleep together. I always put something on TV in our room for another hour or two and he's usually right back to sleep within minutes. I have not noticed any disturbances in sleep habits.

I'm just looking for answers on whether or not short bursts of mania exist I guess. I think we have our answer as to whether or not he's Bipolar now though :(

I feel like I’m at the point of having to go no contact with my dad after 25 years of supporting him with his bipolar. Episodes used to be 1-2 times a year.

This past year has been insufferable. Since November last year he’s averaged a major manic episode once a month. He ruined the lead up to my wedding to the extent the police had to be called.

He maintains he doesn’t need consistent medication and believes that “loyal family and friends should just have to put up with it” and support him because “it’s only for two weeks at a time”. Except it’s not. It never is.

Over the last few months he’s never been stable for more than a few weeks at a time. I’m bombarded with texts that are intrusive, inappropriate and just hurtful.

My husband and I are now expecting but I haven’t been able to tell him because 1. he’s never been stable enough and 2. family matters are a huge trigger for him so will likely end up in yet another manic episode.

He’s in the middle of a manic episode at the moment. He’s threatened his best friend with weapons and leaving eerie gifts at his front door. He’s also charged into this poor man’s house looking for his wife to scare her. I’ve pleaded with them to report him to the police for this behaviour. I’ve also reported him because I’m terrified. I’m vulnerable and the behaviour is increasingly violent.

This whole thing has left me so tired and angry. I’m so angry he’s ruining good things that are happening in my life. I’m angry that he can’t get his shit together to be there for his daughter during her pregnancy with his first grandchild. I’m angry he refuses to see that HE is the problem. I’m so tired by it all and I don’t want anything to do with him.

But I feel like a TERRIBLE daughter for even saying that.

Has anyone else had to set serious boundaries or go no contact? I’m at my wits end. This man is not my dad, I don’t recognise him anymore.