Bipolar disorder,,,?

Question

How to get your loved one into treatment even if they won't go and deny they have the disorder,,,, ?

Answer 1

Thats a tough one. My sister has this and she is driving my family apart. She wont listen or take meds. Call Dr. Phil. ha ha.

Answer 2

The best thing to do is to take them to a place, where they are unlikely to overreact.  (Someone public, maybe a coffee shop).  Sit them down and tell them how you're feeling, how they've been acting, and how you feel it's been affecting they're relationships with loved ones, and them.  After talking, hopefully they can realize that they should seek help.

Answer 3

It is very difficult. Treatment means ongoing management of a chronic medical condition everyday. Moods can be affected by hormones, diet, stressors. Everyone has different triggers. Also, right now is not a good time to confront. Many, many bipolar folks are affected by seasons. They can have manic or mixed episodes (even if they are on meds) that can lead to behavior that makes no sense to others. Mixed episodes (I was just reading) have higher rates of suicide. Symptoms can include extreme irritability and hopelessness. People think mania is a wonderful high, but that is not always the case. Find a support group and go with the person. I think the strongest way to sway someone is to put them in a group of people they can identify with. If the diagnosis is correct and the group is open and well-run, the similarities in behavior and personal history can be glaring and shocking. Good luck.

Answer 4

I was reluctant to go for care.  The only thing I can think of is to tell them they have a right to feel good.  That it is not their fault.  That medication can help correct a chemical imbalance.

Here is a site that has a great deal of information about bipolar disorder and support for families.

http://www.nami.org

Answer 5

Unless someone is a risk to themselfs or anyone else, you cant force them to get   Has the person been diagnosed first off?  If not, stop trying to put a name on it and just address it as they have a problem that they need to seek help with.

But if they really dont see a problem the only thing you can do is leave them go and do not enable them.  Many people are enabled to just keep going on like nothings wrong because everyone around them will walk on egg shells and go out of their way to accomedate them.  When someone has a problem like that its good as part of their support to be able to seperate what is the illness and what is the person and cut them some slack for what is the illness.  However, if that person is not going to achnowlage that they need help, and work to get better, cutting them that slack is enabling them. Is like giving some you love money because things are tight for them, but you know things are tight for them because of a drug problem.  You need to treat them same as you would anyone with out any illness exibeting that behavior.  If that means avoiding them, cutting them out of your life to an extent thats what you have to do.  Until they get help, nothing will change.  And until they see there is a problem with themselfs, they wont see that they need help.  

Answer 6

Well, first of all, please be aware that bi-polar is the flavor of the month right now.  Unless a healthcare professional has diagnosed the person with bi-polar, there's no reason to assume they have it.

You don't mention what types of things are causing problems, but it could be anything from substance abuse to clinical depression to simply a stage someone is going through.

If they're of legal age, all you can is reinforce that you care and you'll be there for them, but don't take this too far to the point where you accept "unacceptable" behavior.  

Answer 7

Well let me say from experience, that having bipolar disorder is difficult to come to terms with.  Sometimes doctors even associate it with other disorders in the beginning which may not always be accurate.  I think my biggest problem about having it was I was given medications that only made me gain weight and become depressed - I've been a hospital patient too, and the only concern there is getting medicated and getting out - find out if your loved one has something else going on in their life first and talk to them about that before jumping to bipolar disorder.  Also if they have it - it's important to find a supportive doctor - they are rare trust me - but the effort to find one is worth it - I recently wrote about communicating with doctors here -

http://buzz.prevention.com/community/jro...