by Jamie Hebert

Created on: May 27, 2008   Last Updated: September 22, 2008

I was diagnosed at the age of twenty eight, while spending ten days in a mental hospital. It was hard for me to hear the words, "You have what we call bi-polar disorder." I had never heard of such a disorder, but I knew that if I were receiving a diagnosis from a psychiatrist that could not be good. No one in my family ever had a mental illness. What was wrong with me? Does any of this sound familiar to you? Trust me, you are not alone in this.

This disorder, to the untrained eye, causes the victim to look like a selfish individual who lacks discipline or self control. The individual may suffer from outbursts of anger, lasting from thirty minutes to hours at a time. These outbursts may consist of yelling, crying, cussing, throwing things, self inflicted injuries, harm to others, paranoid and unfair accusations, etc. The person may continue on this tirade until she collapses, inflicting tremendous amounts of pain and trauma on those closest to her. Although the family tries to console the individual or convince her to calm down, it is to no avail. She cannot be stopped. Once it finally passes the individual may become suicidal or depressed due to feelings of guilt. This would be one example of a manic episode. Furhter, she may suddenly announce that she has met her true love and intends to get married, after 3 weeks of dating (on line). Your sister may have a garage sale so she can re-do her entire house (with the money from the yard sale, of course). She may also experience long periods of deep sadness in which she does not even answer the phone or leave the house. She is depressed. She may experience both simultaenously (mixed episodes).

The good news is, it can be managed. It does not have to destroy your life. You can learn, as an individual and as a family, to manage this disorder. I have experienced all of this and to a lesser degree, still do now. But, I am medication free and live a happy, satisfying, fulfilling life with my children. There are a few musts to managing this disorder. I would suggest you begin with documenting daily. You will be monitoring mood changes, looking for triggers. Triggers are the influences in the environment which stimulated a mood change. For example, perhaps you were feeling upbeat and then drank three cups of coffee. About one hour later you noticed that your mood took a dive and you are now feeling depressed, wanting to return to bed rather than finishing the housework you were contently doing just an hour before. Document

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