Hi,
I hope you’re having a good week.
I was thinking about something today.
I have several people who work for me who have bipolar disorder, and I always brag on them…
About how you would never know that they have the disorder, unless they told you.
Of course, I live in New Jersey, and they live in other places, all over the map.
But I was wondering about what they look like in person.
I mean, not their looks, but whether in person, whether you can or can’t tell that they have bipolar disorder.
So that made me think about you and your loved one.
If there’s so many million people with bipolar disorder, chances are that you know more than just your loved one with the disorder.
Can you tell or can you NOT tell just by looking, if someone has bipolar disorder or not?
Interesting question, don’t you think?
See, what made me think about it, too, were the many emails I’ve gotten from people like you, asking me about whether their loved one’s behavior is the bipolar or their loved one…
And also about whether their loved one is “faking” it or not.
That’s been a real big issue, according to the emails and calls I’ve gotten.
In my opinion, I think it has to do with whether a person with bipolar disorder is high functioning or not.
If they are high functioning, I don’t think you could ever tell that they even had bipolar disorder at all.
In my courses and systems, I talk about what makes a person high-functioning.
This is what I think, at least by what the people who work for me are concerned, is what makes them different, and in my courses I have a whole section on being high functioning:
SUPPORTING AN ADULT WITH BIPOLAR DISORDER?
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http://www.bipolarparenting.com
HAVE BIPOLAR DISORDER?
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High-functioning behavior can make a person with bipolar disorder NOT stand out as someone with the disorder.
Does that make sense?
Whereas, on the other hand, someone who has bipolar disorder, but is NOT high functioning, would be someone who you can tell DOES have bipolar disorder.
I have seen this firsthand – in the people who work for me, those I have interviewed for my courses, those who I have talked to at the support groups I attend, and others I have heard from via email and phone.
When someone with bipolar disorder is low functioning, they will tend to have more episodes.
And you know that when your loved one has episodes, there are behaviors associated with them.
If these behaviors are in public, well then sure, people are going to notice…
And then they will question…
And more likely will know that your loved one has something wrong with them…
If not know that they have bipolar disorder.
So I give it to you. What do you think?
What has been your experience?
Can you tell just by looking, if your loved one has bipolar disorder or not?
If so, what is it about their behavior that gives them away?
For those of you who can’t tell, what is it about your loved one’s behavior that is different, that doesn’t give them away?