• Educate your family. This illness has already tested their patience to the limits and will continue to do so. Hand out books, brochures and Web site print-outs. Although it is not entirely accurate, you can explain you have a chemical imbalance of the brain. Also, make sure they understand that in terms of recovery, Rome wasn’t built in a day.
• Acknowledge the suffering you may have caused others. You are going to need their good will, and your best insurance is to come clean about what you’ve put them through. This applies even if your illness is to blame.
• Form partnerships. Your loved one needs to be a player in managing your illness. This means knowing your triggers and how to help you avoid them as well as being involved in any contingency planning and reminding you to remain compliant with your treatments and lifestyle regimens. In a crisis, this is the person who will be making the executive decisions.
• Communicate. Waking up on the wrong side of bed takes on a whole new meaning with a mood disorder. The same is true for a bad day at the office. Your loved one needs a heads up.
Hopefully, your family will turn into your greatest asset. Your illness can often bring you closer -- your shared hardships forging a stronger bond. But the experience can also drive you apart, leaving you feeling unloved, unwanted and embittered. You may have no choice in the end but to break off a bad relationship, but please let this be your last option, rather than your first.
Friends
For good reason, people with bipolar disorder tend to remain in the closet because of the fear, ignorance and stigma surrounding the illness. On one hand, you are going to need all the support you can get. On the other, one indiscretion can have severe consequences.
The issue of whether to disclose or not to disclose comes up all the time in my support group. It always comes down to personal circumstances and trust. As a general rule, tread carefully if your friends are your working colleagues. You have everything to gain as well as lose.
