while I agree absolutely with the thrust of what you are saying and that is that it is the responsibility of the person (if competent) to seek treatment, maintains that reatment, seek further treatment when appropriate, there is some details I think are not quite right.

"It is the responsibility of the person with bipolar to keep the illness under control"

That sometimes is just not possible.

" There is no excuse for not taking medication. "

It has to be a balance. Meds tend to be associated with weight gain (in some cases leading to morbid obesity and diabetes), loss of libido / sexual dysfunction and for some meds hair loss. These are not acceptable to some people with bipolar. In other cases it's not acceptable to the partner. A general feeling of fatigue/ brain fog, forgetfulness is common - leading to loss of job performance. The answer is to try and find a med that works for you but that takes time (years), money if you are in the US and some people just give up and either stop taking meds or reluctantly accept a dimished life.

"Family and friends can offer great support to a person with bipolar, cheer them on and point them in the right direction. "

I think it's hard for anyone that doesn't have bipolar to understand what it feels like - let the person decide how they would like to be supported otherwise there is a danger that it comes over as patronising.

Thank you for your input Acuriousfish, I like seeing other points of view regarding this.
I only mean to stress that since bipolar is a very serious illness, it needs to be considered as such. The consequences of untreated bipolar episodes are staggering and I believe that it's better to prevent them.
When a bipolar person's well-being and safety are at stake, as well as those around the bipolar person, measures to bring the episodes under control need to be taken.
While we'll never be able to know what people with bipolar feel and my heart breaks for them, I just want to stress the importance of keeping the symptoms of bipolar under control. Specially to those new to the illness :)

well we can agree on that.

You have to be constantly vigilent even when you are on meds - plus do all the other things you need to do to keep stable.

Even so, my bipolar will poke through at times whatever I do.

My son is Bipolar. I am trying not to enable him, but it is so hard. I see him doing unhealthy things and not taking care of himself, and I can't stop trying to take care of him and telling him what to do. What am I supposed to do when he gets out of control?

when he gets out of control there is not much you can do other than if required calling the police or trying to get him committed.

Is he on meds?

Yes, he takes Xanax, but it doesn't seem to be helping. He has been drinking way too much lately which intensifies the illness. I have tried "baker acting" him twice, but the police came and would not take him.

Have you seen "Ian" on the TV show Shameless? My son is like that.

Xanax isn't a bipolar med - it is merely a tranquilizer - it doesn't help bipolar and if anything it's likely to make the situation worse because it's highly addictive.

He needs to be on proper meds.

Well said.

*It is not good to enable a bipolar person. Just because the person is ill, doesn't mean one has to put up with abusive behavior.

I needed to read that. I let my mother walk all over me, because I don't want to push her over the edge. She's told me on numerous occasions that she wishes she'd never had kids, because we ruin everything. (And then she takes it back when she's back on meds, because "that's not what she meant to say.")

I walk on eggshells around her, and try to do whatever she wants, because you never know what will set her off. The first time she overdosed on alcohol and Xanax was because a fight broke out over me washing the dish towels in the kitchen (which I've done every Saturday for as long as I can remember.) She started screaming that it was her house, and I couldn't just take her dish towels down. When I tried to explain how I was just washing them like I do every week, she went into an hour of screaming at me about how I've made it very clear that I don't care about her and don't want her in my life. (The second overdose came because I asked how my grandfather was doing. Unbeknownst to me, the priest at mass had told them to be thankful for family. That made her angry, because "she doesn't have a family to be thankful for." After trying to pick a fight with my dad unsuccessfully, she lashed out at me when I was asked about my grandfather.)

There have been many similar instances since, and each time, I let her scream at me and tell me what a terrible person I am, because I don't want to be the reason she overdoses again. I do realize I'm an enabler, but I'm so afraid of what she'll do if I stop being an enabler. I know it's the disease making her act the way she does, and if she succeeded in committing suicide, it wouldn't be my fault. But I also know I'd have terrible guilt, and I don't think I could deal with having that on my conscience.

Thank you for sharing. I needed to hear those words. They fit my situation and make me feel stronger reading them.

I'm so happy this was of help to Dreamer and Penny and others :) You have no idea how happy it makes me :)