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.

deleted_user
My brother had to be hospitalized against his will and has turned his back on his wife, by the way who was great, and we cant understand why. She stayed by his side but as soon as he got out of the hospital he resented her. Can anyone help me figure out why.

deleted_user
His perspective of everything in his life is not like your perspective or hers. He may even be feeling hypomanic right now, and feels that the hospitalization was unneccessary. He may be justifying that his depression wasn't even as bad as everyone made it out to be. Or if he was manic and hospitalized now that he is level again he feels that the whole thing was just blown out of proportion or a series of bad mistakes. It's common at first to blame others or to think it's everything in your life that caused you to act the way you did rather than to recognize that it's your illness and a set of symptoms just like diabetes has a set of symptoms that you can't control. He hasn't accepted that he is sick and so it is easier to look for others to blame and of course his wife is closest to him so it's easiest to blame her. There are probably some problems in the relationship anyway and the illness only hightens those. Nothing is as it seems when you are bipolar. And remember, even though he is sick, there are two sides to every pancake, so you just don't know what's on his side. Try to be understanding and encourage him to find a therapist. And try to listen to him rather than judge. The best thing you can do is really listen. "Tell me more." "That's interesting." "It must be difficult for you to feel that way." Good luck. Get educated about his illness. He can't recover in a bubble. He needs all the support he can get.

deleted_user
are there any support groups that help husbands/wives cope with this kind of thing? He quit his job yesterday and told us God needed him in heaven. My mom and dad are a nerveous wreck and feel like there should be something they can do. Thanks for the reply.

deleted_user
Does he have a pdoc or a tdoc? If so, although patient confidentiality means they cannot provide information to you, you can always provide information to them, or your parents can. Quitting a job and saying God needs you in heaven are not good signs. It sounds like you'd never be able to convince him to return to the hospital on his own but if you report this information to the professionals that see him or even the crisis team, if they feel he's at risk, they will have him committed again. And no matter how many people he gets mad at, it may be saving his life. Ones he's well enough medicated, he will begin to understand that, sadly, not until. Be sure if you call crisis you let them know he was just discharged after being committed. Best of luck to you. I know this extremely difficult, but remember, you and your parents are doing this for him, not to him, Mary :)

deleted_user
Angel's and MHA's comments couldn't have been said anybetter. I second their motion! Couldn't have said it any better myself! Support and education are the greatest keys.
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