Bipolar Support Group

Pardon me if this topic has been discussed before but does anyone else have family, friends or others in their lives who don't believe you are bi-polar?

My mom swears I am not. She says I am just too hard on myself. Manicy states are either justifiable rage or too much coffee. Depression is just "everyone hates to clean their house" days. Anxiety and shaky hands are just a family trait.

She told me yesterday that bi-polar is over diagnosed and cited two of my first cousins having it and being medicated as an example. This was news to me so I pointed out that bi-polar is often in families and that new info was a greater confirmation.

To convince my mom I'd have to really explain the severe suicidal mixed states I was in this spring and early summer and I don't want to terrify her so that's out. I will just have to accept that she is a skeptic.

Anyone else suffer skeptics in your life?

My family and some old friend are the same-don't believe mental illness. Just view as"crazy", bad, pms. they don't understand and odn't wanna learn. that is why i stay away from them now. they'd love to see me drunk.

Skeptics are effin' idiots. I was psychotic for 10 months hearing voices and visually hallucinating and there is no denying that I have BP. Once I was medicated all of that stopped. Bipolar is as real as diabetes. People need to educate themselves or maybe see it with there own eyes. Take them to a mental ward and they will see that mental illness is real. I can't stand people who think with there ass instead of their head.

Many people, especially those from older generations where mental illness was not so common or talking about it considered socially acceptable seem to have a harder time dealing...but, I was told the same thing by close friends "no way, not you"...and why didn't it show up earlier? Diagnosed at 48, although looking back I see some trends that lead me to believe Yes, it is BP1. Now I just don't share the info, or if I do and someone remarks likewise (everyone gets blue) I just say something like "I understand most people are very ignorant about mental illnesses, it's a tough topic for most people"....or something similar.

It's not our job to educate them, but I feel it must be harder for you when it is your own parent. Keep in mind if it does run in the family, there is probably some shame surrounding it. (Uncle Joe hung himself in the barn, Grandma drank too much scotch and rocked too hard in her rocker....I used to punch holes in the wall and scream at mimes) They don't want to believe it because of the stigma too.

Screw 'em.

Post edited by: JustJulie62, at: 11/12/2011 10:06 AM

These skeptics are just not ready for the 21st Century. Flying cars that transform to brief cases and Robot Maids with attittudes are just too much for them to accept. When I pointed out Mark Harmon and his revelatation he was Bipolar in a Public Service commercial my sister said "He's and actor and that is just an act".

If these skeptic had all been around Thomas Edison during his inventing years we would all be using our computers by candle or gas light!

Post edited by: cptblack, at: 11/12/2011 10:27 AM

well, my husband doesn't believe that I am bipolar, or have anxiety, or whatever the case may be. That makes it really hard for me. I have had some med changes this past year, gone off some meds and started some new ones and he couldn't understand why this was hard for me.

Oh, I think we all experience this. I've heard the same things as well and yes, even my wife of 21 years didn't believe it. After I started therapy and meds, which calmed me down somewhat, she went on like everything was back to normal and there was nothing wrong.

Then she had a few opportunities to see me at my go through the rapid cycling episodes with uncontrolled shaking of, starting with the hands, to uncontrolled tears ... then back to uncontrolled shaking, only more so (until after a few cycles almost the entire body shook) then back to uncontrolled tears.

She, like so many others, simply do not want to educate themselves on the topic. Guess their mentality is "ignorance is bliss" when in fact the "ignorance is pure stupidity" when it's one of your loved ones.

My heart goes out to you and I pray that you find some peace in understand so that their ignorance does not become simply another demon to contend with.

I "Had" a friend that only the weak of mind suffer from deppression and that nothing would ever bring him down. I told him you are driving down the street and a little girl runs out and you accidentaly drive over her and you wouldn't flinch? He told me that he's just get a new car and move on.....I am not friends with him anymore.

My parents have told me that my councelors have "made" me remember my abuse and that I just need to snap out of it. I told them it's the same thing as telling an obese person to just not eat that food.

My brother told me on xmas eve last year that I had a perfect life and that I had everything that he wanted......wow some people have no clue.

Alot of poeple don't believe and say it's all made up or for attention....well the stress that was caused when I got a gun put into my face twice while at my minimum wage job was not worth the little pay check...and the stress was real.

My ex's family don't believe he has a problem. They think our relationship and his immaturity was the result of his extreme behaviors. The sad thing is that it is a family problem. On the paternal side, mental illness runs everywhere. Ex's father hung himself at age 41, he was undx'd and unmedicated. My ex exhibits the exact same behaviors as his father, all the BP symptoms. It's a shame, with treament and proper medication this could have been prevented. His mother thinks that her son would never do anything like her husband did bc he knows "what suicide did to the family." Please, this is denial at its best, and unfortunately will cause the most damage to everyone involved. It's truly a shame. A family tragedy.

'lj80': I don't mean to sound like a cold heated bastard of anything, but I than GOD you are no longer his friend! OMG! If something like that accidentally happened with me, they'd be locking me up in a rubber room until I lay down for the long dirt nap!