Dating someone bi-polar

[Burno]

If you are stable it can work. Two erratic personalities can easily fall in love, but will have great difficulty remaining together.

Bi-Polar in a great many cases can be minimized and in some cases eliminated with a proper exploration and understanding of one's mind. Meds do help but many cause significant withdrawal and their can be some crazy mood swings if they are changed. Therapy is where it's at, but it has to be often and consistent enough to be effective.

The biggest key, I swear, is to severely curtail the use of alcohol and narcotics. Often they are used to cope with the downswings or celebrate the upswings and they end up making the frequency and intensity of the swings so much worse. Plus, combining drugs or just alcohol with Bipolar meds just makes people loopy.

[chesspain]

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If you are stable it can work. Two erratic personalities can easily fall in love, but will have great difficulty remaining together.

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One stable person is only half of the formula. If the partner is very unstable, the relationship is going to be severely challenged regardless of how normal the other individual might be.



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Bi-Polar Disorder in a great many cases can be minimized and in some cases eliminated with a proper exploration and understanding of one's mind.

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False. Bipolar Disorder is a brain illness. It cannot be eliminated with psychotherapy--although therapy can help one to learn how to make better choices, how to cope with the mood swings, how to recognize the need to ask for a reassessment of one's medication regimen, etc.




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Meds do help but many cause significant withdrawal and their can be some crazy mood swings if they are changed. Therapy is where it's at, but it has to be often and consistent enough to be effective.

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I'ld say that meds + therapy is where it's at...and I'm a psychologist, so my bias should be with therapy--except that I know that therapy will be insufficient with moderate to severe cases of Bipolar Disorder.




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The biggest key, I swear, is to severely curtail the use of alcohol and narcotics. Often they are used to cope with the downswings or celebrate the upswings and they end up making the frequency and intensity of the swings so much worse. Plus, combining drugs or just alcohol with Bipolar meds just makes people loopy.

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This is 100% correct.

[Burno]

I will, of course, defer to chesspain, as I am not a psychologist, but I do work in the field(special needs) and have a degree. I do, however, have some terrific insight into the Bi-Polar world, for a variety of reasons.

Couple questions for Chess.

1. What % of individuals diagnosed as Bi-polar would you estimate are actually bi-polar?

2. What are your thoughts on the use of marijuana to regualte mood swings?

[chesspain]

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Couple questions for Chess.

1. What % of individuals diagnosed as Bi-polar would you estimate are actually bi-polar?

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I have no idea



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2. What are your thoughts on the use of marijuana to regualte mood swings?

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Although I personally believe that marijuana or alcohol can be pleasant and fairly benign when used by reasonably healthy individuals in moderation, I also believe that the chronic use of either/both by individuals with major mood disorders tends to lead, in general, to worsenned depression in the long-run.