Don’t Let This Happen to You with Bipolar Disorder
Published: Wed, 06/30/10
Hi ,
How's it going?
Hope you are doing well.
I knew a man at one time who had a
brilliant mind.
He could find a solution to any puzzle or
problem, and he always had something
cleaver to say.
This man happened to have bipolar
disorder.
And, like many with the disorder, he
didn't take his medications.
He thought he was doing fine.
After all, he wasn't depressed, and that's
what matters, right?
Except that he was manic.
He ended up spending all of his rent
money on things that he didn't need and
were non-returnable.
He lost his job because he got mad at
work and started ranting about things he
shouldn't have.
He burned bridges with family and friends
by the things he said and did when he was
manic.
Naturally, he got kicked out of his
apartment when he couldn't pay the rent.
He couldn't go stay with anybody, because
he had made them all mad at him.
And he couldn't afford to get a new place,
because he had lost his job.
He became homeless.
Since he lost his job, he lost the medical
insurance that went with it, which means
he lost his ability to see a psychiatrist
and get medications.
So he stayed off his medications, even
when he no longer wanted to be off them.
Now he's been homeless for years, and
the man that knew how to fix everybody's
problems doesn't know how to fix his
own.
It's easy to think he was a fool, or an
idiot.
After all, how could he neglect his
responsibilities that way?
Or even, how could he think he could be
off medications in the first place?
Unfortunately, though, this is a very
common problem.
Much of the time people who have
bipolar disorder think they can go without
their medications.
And that usually leads to a downward
cycle.
Sometimes it ends in homelessness.
Other times it ends in death, when the
person gets so depressed that they take
their own life.
Sometimes it ends in losing all of the
friends and family that a person has.
This is why it is so important to have and
follow a treatment plan.
If your loved one has bipolar disorder,
then a treatment plan needs to be written
with their future well-being in mind.
At a time when they can think straight,
have them sit down and think about their
mentalities when they are manic or
depressed.
Have them write themselves reminders
for those times as to why they should
continue to follow their treatment plan
even when they don't want to.
Keep those reminders in a place that is
easy to get to.
Then, when they get to the point that they
don't want to take their medications or
otherwise follow their treatment plan, pull
out those reminders and show them to
them.
There are things that can be done to
prevent your loved one from becoming
homeless.
They will need your help with it, because
there will be times when they just don't
feel like it.
And, since bipolar disorder is a disorder
that affects a person's moods, when they
don't feel like something they are likely
to not do it.
But you can be there as their reminder
that they need to follow their treatment
plan.
If you feel you need to, remind them that
many in their situation have ended up
homeless, dead, or alone.
Let them know that you don't want them
to end up like that, but you need their
help to make sure that they don't.
The aim is always for recovery, but it can
be easy to look up so high that we don't
see the rock below that we are about to
trip on.
What I mean by this is, it can be easy to
be so focused on what it will be like when
they are in recovery that we forget to
take the time to prevent them from getting
worse.
But it is something that needs to happen.
What can you do today to make sure that
this doesn't happen to your loved one?
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Well, I have to go!
Your Friend,
Dave
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