What are the symptoms of bipolar disorder ? how do you know if someone has it ?
Sunday, September 5th, 2010 at
8:34 am
How do you know if someone in your family is also a manic ? or a manic depressive ?
and if they are how can you help or what should you do ?
and what if they won’t go to the doctors ?
thanks to anyone with any advice.
the family member I have in mind isn’t crazy, but she had a bad childhood. I want to help her.
Tagged with: Bipolar • Disorder • know • someone • Symptoms
Filed under: Bipolar Symptoms
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Theres nothing you can do….my cousin had it and got no help till’ she started behaving in an anti-social way….then she was sectioned and put on medication. I tried to help her but could not and eventually had to distance myself from her. Her first symptoms were deppression which would suddenly change into manic happiness..then she started shopping crazily…it all escalated though until she was crazy.
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/bipolar-disorder/complete-publication.shtml
Please read this from the National Institute of Mental Health.
I am a high functioning Bipolar on medication and therapy.
FYI : None of us are Crazy! It is an illness and you can support the family member by educating yourself fully on the illness.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bipolar_disorder
You know you have bipolar disorder when the specialist you have consulted diagnosis it, and give you appropriate help for it.
But if you simply feel the urge to have a mental disorder, you can certainly just say that you suffer from it.
Bipolar is a tricky illness, that mimics so many other conditions that it often difficult to diagnose and for may of us, it take years to be correctly diagnosed.
Don’t try to self-diagnose them here, instead talk to your family member and tell them that you have noticed a change in their behaviour and ask if something is wrong, if there is and they don’t want to talk about, say its OK and you’ll be there later if they feel like discussing why. If it is a sibling that we are talking about, go straight to your parents and tell them about your bro/sis’ strange behaviour and let them decide to proceed from there.
If the person wants help, send them to a GP who can give them a medical to check for physical causes and then to a shrink for a proper psychiatric evaluation. Or to a counsellor if its more appropriate.
You can’t make someone get help or go to hospital if they are over the age of majority unless you can demonstrate legally that they are a danger to themselves, other people and incapable of making sound judgements as they are not in an appropriate state of mind to do so. If they are in this sort of situation, go to the nearest hospital for help or call the police.