My fiance was diagnosed with bipolar disorder a little over a year ago, and this year we are having Christmas at my parents’ house. The problem is, my entire family is100% Italian, and they always get into arguments over dinner and stuff like that. All my aunts, uncles, and cousins are going to be there on Christmas Day, as well as my grandparents, so there will be a lot of people. No one in my family knows that my fiance has bipolar disorder, and no one has met him except my parents, and they only met him once. I’m just so afraid the atmosphere won’t be good for him when everyone is over at the house, and I’m scared they won’t understand if we have to leave early…Generally, my family isn’t very accepting of differences,so I’m not sure if I should tell them about it or not. I just don’t know what to do if the environment gets too exciting for him.

My mother, her mother, and her grandfather all had bipolar disorder. Her grandmother had clinical depression.

I am a 37-year-old female. I have a long-time friend who is a licensed therapist who says I have a touch of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder when it comes to my interpersonal relationships, i.e., I am afraid of losing friends over the tiniest issues; however, she assures me that I am not bipolar, and that if I would have been bipolar, that I would have gotten it by now.

Is it true that once a person reaches a certain age and doesn’t get bipolar, that they’re out of the woods?

My dad is pretty crazy at sometimes than all of the sudden he is nicer than ever. Say he punches me in the head than a few minutes later he is asking if I want to go to a movie. Same with my brother one second he is really nice to me talkin and everything than all of the sudden out of nowhere he bursts into a crazy angry mood. Also they have very very very short tempers I can take crap talking from my bro all day without a single urge of anger while he stays in his crazy loud obnacious non-stop talking mood but if I say something back to him like why are you bein a dick to me he will go nuts. His whole personality changes in an instant and he goes off on me like crazy than a few min later hes nice like wtf???!?!?!?! Its almost confusing to me… In my book hes weak minded. Its either his mind is a lil kooky or sumthin but I am thinkin hes bipolar does that sound right? Same thing with my dad.
Also they like to break things alot.
I am not tellin anyone about it I actually dont have much of a problem with em. I think of them as weak minded and the more they yell and shout the more I realize just how much more they are messed up in term making me feel better about myself. I dont really care if they ruin their lives they already try to ruin mine im just tryin to figure out if its really bipolar or not.
Yeah me and my mom were thinkin anger management as well but I have absolutley no experience in knowledge of these things.
omg impulse control issues I just looked that up and wow I think of my dad and my bro sounds exactly like what they have it always seems like they never think of what they say and that must be why they are always (sorry) for what they said.

I swear that I’m bipolar, and I have depression. Recently, I was pissed at my friend, and then two seconds later, I was like “duude, look at this !” and I was all happy and crap. And Depression, It just randomly hits me.. So, does it run in the family, and are there symptoms i should look for?

Thanks.
Oh, and I’m fourteen, I’ll be fifteen on October 15th.

It’s tough living with a family member who has bipolar disorder. HealthyPlace.com Expert Bipolar Patient and author, Julie Fast, says there are ways to cope.

I have bipolar but my family does not believe me.My family criticizing and puts me down. They say I will throw you out the street, go back to the mental hospital and blah, blah etcs My sister says stuff like I will never get married. She gossips all the time. My family is not supportive.

Cheating….leaving your spouse…clouded by your manic highs…did this ruin your family and did you lose it all because of your disorder?

I’ve recently been diagnosed as bipolar after several years of being told that i’m just severely depressed (with meds that only work half the time). I’m starting to learn how to cope. Music, writing, reading… they help. Also, taking a long walk when I can’t control my temper. The problem is that my family doesn’t seem to get it. I can’t talk to them. This means that whenever I try to explain that I HAVE to do something in particular (like take a walk to cool off), they don’t back off… they push harder. My mom and I will get into terrible fights, and I’ve had several times where I’ve flat out told her that I’m manic, and I can’t be dealing with it (my temper can get HORRIBLE when I’m manic). Often she will either start crying about how it’s all her fault, or she will keep yelling at me. If I just walk out, she is often STILL angry when I get back, because I walked out on her.

As far as I can tell, they mostly get depression. They only seem to really understand that it’s extreme sadness. I can’t talk to them about suicidal thoughts, because I’m either told to stop acting stupid or it causes crying. They dont’ get mania at all. They think it means I’m super happy. Or I want to shop a lot. They don’t see how my temper has anything to do with it. Or that I start getting these obsessive thoughts and stuff. I’ve tried really hard to explain, but I don’t know what to do. I am going to have to move back in with them for a few months until my roommate and I get an apartment, and I’m really worried that this is going to go badly…

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My son has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and I have not seen him in 10 years. He does visit my other son periodically, but he does not know how much he is missed, and loved.