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Bipolar Sympatico? Hey Y'all, This has been an interesting thread, for several reasons. The main reason...? Northpolar opened the thread with an observation: [paraphrasing] I can see that the spouse and family members of a person with bipolar tend themslves, over time, to show some of the symptoms of their bipolar loved one. There was also a question implicit in Northpolar's original post: [paraphrasing] Has anyone else seen the same thing? The topic therefore invites opinions as to whether, by association, other members in a relationship may acquire symptoms of their loved one's disease. In other words, "What do you think?" Research begins with "I observed something that I can't explain", and research continues with a consensus based on the question, "Have you observed it too?" Then the investigation begins. In this case the consensus of this thread seems to be that friends, family, and S/O's tend themselves to acquire symptoms of their bipolar loved one. Well there is some research going on that is attempting to explain this topic. The area of research is a subject called neuroplasticity. Something made of plastic has the capacity to be bent, stretched, and re-formed. Neuroplasticity refers to the ability of the brain to "bend, stretch, or re-form" it's own structure and function according to the demands of our physical bodies and according to the demands of our environment. All the information on neuroplasticity, neural plasticity/neuronal plasticity, is still very clinical and VERY technical reading. I suggest the search terms "neuroplasticity" and "neuroplasticity environment" for starters, if you care to study it. Behavioral sciences have recognized for a long time that there is a "missing link", if you will, in the treatment of bipolar disease and other mood affective diseases--a link as it happens between psychiatry and neurology--neuroplasticity; but it is only recently that neurologists have had the technology to study the link. Ironically, one of the PBS stations aired a program yesterday about neuroplasticity. The program gave an example. As people age, they tend to have difficulty maintaining their balance while walking. As a result they tend to focus on their feet and foot movement, and they tend therefore to ignore the horizon and the surrounding environment. Focusing on the ground limits their visual perspective and deprives them of the "input" which their brains had always required to maintain balance. By focusing on the ground, they are "re-training" their brain and requiring their brain to rely on one point of reference, instead of many--a process which tends to make their balance WORSE, not better! The point the program made is that responding negatively to a negative influence in the environment, and thereafter focusing on the negative, diminishes our brain's capacity to adapt to change. Thus we add to the negative circumstance with our own negative perspective, and our neural network stops the process of re-forming--a process essential to healthy mental function. In the case of living with a bipolar loved one, we perhaps become slaves to a negative environment by focusing, as the above example suggests, on the negative--by focusing on the problem and limiting our general perspective, we train our neurons to become habitually lazy--to respond in an endless, unchanging loop of negative emotions, poor reasoning, and damaging choices. In the long run, we allow ourselves to become as sick as our bipolar loved one! (SYMPATICO) We begin to "live in the problem." Does that make sense? Thanks Northpolar for that topic. It seems like one of the "core issues" of bipolar family life. Regards, Jim James A Rist
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Bipolar Support Forums
Jim
