Bipolar Disorder Support Group

Bipolar disorder is not just a single disorder, but a category of mood disorders marked by periods of abnormally high energy and euphoria, often accompanied by bouts of clinical depression. This is the place to talk about your experience with bipolar disorder, learn from others' experiences, and find support.

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Bree44 04/12/2014

yes, this is another post about family (I saw at least two recent ones, but whatever...)

Have you ever looked at your family members and really wondered, jokes aside, what the hell is wrong with them? I know I'm "mentally ill", but sometimes I question my familys mental state more so than my own. I'm absolutely convinced that there's something not quite clicking in my mothers head (and anyone who really knows her agrees), but god only knows what it is. She has so many strange issues it's impossible to even theorize about what she might have clinically speaking.

My father is easier to understand. He has issues too, but at least they're consistant.

The funny thing is, I'm considered the crazy one.... Makes sense that I'm nutty, right? Considering who raised me...

deleted_user 04/12/2014

not to over step my boundries but she could be what we in the south call a few bricks short of a load. I know that I am. lol

rosiestorm 04/12/2014

The majority of my extended family is also mentally ill....not all diagnosed, so untreated and very hard to be around. They're in denial that anything's wrong with them, and tend to think everybody else has the problem.

dobiedots 04/12/2014

YES!! I wondered that since childhood!!
My mom, I'm convinced was an undiagnosed bippolar. With some other mental illness I don't know about. She was very Passive/Agressive, didn't seem to enjoy anything, didn't want to have friends or social. And violent.
I know something was going on w/my dad because he NEVER talked. He was this mystery person in the house. I mean NEVER talked. I would have Sunday breakfast w/him and it was so uncomfortable because he wouldn't say a word. I figured that maybe his experience in the German camp during the war did something to him. So my siblings, being raised in a household like that were screwy but I can't blame them, they had no choice.
I never liked my family, couldn't wait to get away from them.

Bree44 04/12/2014

LOL Linda, that just improved my mood ten-fold :)

They say that mental illness runs in families, at least some of them. I know my mom has hospitalized when she was younger, although getting the full, or even half, story on that is impossible. Fortunately for my sisters I seem to be the one who inherited that gene... lucky wenches!!

dancingd 04/12/2014

I figure I got my nuttiness from somewhere

:)

dobiedots 04/12/2014

I was just lucky I guess! Or I never would have found the awesome people on HERE!!!

dobiedots 04/12/2014

Kinda like bowling without the pins.

deleted_user 04/12/2014

Family reunions are a good gauge of where you come from but not necessarily where you're going to...still it's good to have a heads up.

I understand my family stopped having them. Haven't been invited since I left home at 17. I found I can live without family and one good friend is always enough to live for.

irishwriter 04/12/2014

Lots of undiagnosed/untreated nutters in my family of 10 siblings. two others with dx and getting treatment, the rest just stumbling around wreaking havoc particularly with the three of us and hurting us at every opportunity. I would say my father was bp plus some other disorder, he was pretty violent and my mother had depression . My cousins on my father's side all have to deal with some of the same illnesses and violent parents and my sister had a child adopted and when they reconnected he had had treatment for depression and is just out of rehab for alcohol abuse at 25yrs old.

mayismerry 04/12/2014

I think the "nuttiness" runs in families. Remember there is also dysfunction that runs in families as well.

dobiedots 04/12/2014

My family invented the word "dysfunction".

mayismerry 04/12/2014

Sometimes dysfunction comes from how people handle those around them with mental illness. I know my adopted mom's family learned dysfunction from my adopted grandfather who was in and out of state hospitals for long stays due to serious depression. The whole family learned to compensate for his loss, since it was for long extended times. The men in the family were more idolized. There was codependency and rescuing.

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