Is there any way you can compel someone by law to seek treatment for bipolar disorder?
Monday, August 30th, 2010 at
8:36 am
My ex has bi polar disorder and will not admit it to himself and will not seek treatment. As a result, I don’t want him around at all and that makes it very hard on me raising our daughter on my own. Also he doesn’t pay child support and I resent that. Is there anything I can do to force him to seek treatment?
Tagged with: Bipolar • compel • Disorder • seek • someone • there • Treatment
Filed under: Bipolar Treatments
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He can be involuntarily committed if he is a danger to himself or others. Otherwise, not much you can do about his mental illness. You say “he will not admit it to himself” – has he been officially diagnosed by a psychiatrist as having bipolar or is that just your guess? If he has been diagnosed and you are concerned about your safety or the safety of your daughter then talk to the police.
Also, report him for not paying child support. But you definitely need to clarify whether he has officially been diagnosed or not.
Not unless he poses a danger to himself or other people, then the only real option is for him to be sectioned (in the UK) or equiv. Suspect however in this case he probably isn’t bad enough for that so unfortunately can’t really see any options.
As for child support – depending where you are, there might be ways to get him to pay that. CSA in the UK, or I believe there are versions of that in the US. Doubt getting him into treatment would help with the child support issue however.
You don’t want him around your child but you expect him to pay child support!!! You sound unreasonable.
No you cannot force him into therapy. BUT you can get therapy for yourself.
And how do you know your ex has bi-polar?? It is one of the most mis-diagnosed illnesses in mental health. Has he been diagnosed by a professional or is this just your opinion?
Only if he is a danger to himself or others. If there is reason to believe he will do harm to someone, including himself, a police officer or medical professional can have him hospitalized for 72 hours against his will, while he undergoes psychiatric screening.
That’s kinda tricky I know in the hospital the Dr. can order a psych. evaluation but if the patient doesn’t seem to be a risk to himself or others there isn’t really much you can do about it. If you were married it would be a totally different situation. But most of the time at the hospital ,the law is that they will only hold a mentally ill patient for 72 hours. Personally I don’t think that is a significant amount of time to to treat a person with bi polar medications. If you feel he is a risk to himself or others, or is suicidal you could contact the author ties for advice.
I don’t think there is anything you can do unless you take him to family court regarding your daughter and custody and tell them of his problems and ask that he isn’t allowed to be around your daughter unless he pays child support and seeks help for his bipolar problem and even his drug problem. They helped me with my ex is almost the same regard.