bipolar father equals bipolar spouse

Therapy taught me that I was looking for what I thought was "Normal". Equating love with abuse...sick.

Bless your Momma, years ago a priest told my mother to stay in the relationship...it was God's Plan.

Glad there is a better understanding today of what abusive relationships are and when to get help.

Hugs to you for starting this thread...norma

Home life was not a walk in the park. I always thought that it was because my dad worked so hard to support the twelve kids that they had. Of course I married and lived in an abusive marriage for 25 years. I walked away from that about two years ago and have yet to get involved again. I know that I had taken my sister in for an evaluation and she is bipolar as well as I am. The doc that was doing the evaluation asked which of our parents were bipolar. If we had to guess now we would say that our father was but that he was never diagnosed.

I think that I have seen it in myself among others that some of us women tend to be looking for that father figure without being aware of it. I have now taken the road of making myself healthy before I feel that I can make healthy choices.

Yep, I can definitely relate to this one..LOL My dad was undiagnosed, and an addict alcaholic. I wasn't physically abused, but , verbally, and emosionally. I became like him. I found men, like him.

My mom also had an alcaholic, and abusive partner. I picked up some of her behavior, too. I ended up a mess.

I have been with a man for 5 yrs. He and I were not that together when we got together, but, but have grown up together. We have both had our issues, and have both gotten help. Now, we have a healthy relationship. It has taken a lot of work on both our parts, because we were both from abusive families.