Bipolar Supporter? Making This Mistake?

Hi {!firstname_fix},

If you are a bipolar supporter,
I hope you aren’t making this mistake.

I was talking to someone yesterday about
a problem they had.

They were trying to fit in more time on
a weekly basis for therapy.

I asked them why they needed so much
therapy?

This person said so that I can deal with
my wife. I was like, “huh?”

This person was going to a therapist 2
times a week.

I asked the person to explain his plan
to me.

After like 10 minutes of really not
explaining a plan I said to him
this:

“So is your plan to make sure that you
can cope and deal with your wife’s behavior
until she gets better?”

He said “yes that’s my plan.”

I asked him, “well what’s your wife doing
to get getter.” He said, “well nothing really.”

I said, “is she taking medication? He said
no, she takes it off and on.”

I said, “well there isn’t enough therapy
in the world to help you cope and deal with
someone who is not stable from bipolar disorder.”

I went on to explain that instead of spending
all his time trying to fix himself or better
deal with getting screamed at, yelled at,
threatened and having a steady stream of
abuse each and every day, he needs to
set a goal to get his wife to take his
medication.

He said, “yea that would be great but how.”

I said to him, “the first step is having
the goal. The first step in accomplishment
is to define what you want to accomplish.”

He said “that makes sense.”

Does this all make sense to you?

See how this person was off track and making
a huge mistake trying to figure out how to
better deal with a situation which really
is not going to magically fix itself?

See how this person didn’t have a goal
of fixing the problem? the problem being
that his wife was not taking medication.

See how, although something simple, he
really didn’t have a goal to get his wife
on medication. He had a goal to make himself
better be able to withstand his wife’s bipolar
disorder.

Many people are searching for how to
better cope and deal with the bad parts
of bipolar disorder. Now these strategies
are important for the SHORT term.

But over the long term, you have to get
your loved one to take medication.

Does that make sense?

There are ways to do this. You can learn it.
I have a new resource titled:

“How to Get Your Loved One With Bipolar Disorder
To Take Their Medication.”

For more information, please visit:

http://www.bipolarsupporter.com/specialoffer/getlovedonemeds/

HaveĀ  a great day.
Dave

  1. I have got to respectfully disagree. The one thing no human being can do is to control the actions of another person.

    Not at all minimizing the ability to influence someone else by your actions, or to contribute to an environment that is conducive to your own and their health.

    But you can’t make someone do what you want them to do. And for that very reason, I would endorse the husband’s original plan. He can change how he reacts to her. He can’t change her.

    And like most things, I don’t think the answer is either black or white. Good for him, and for both of them, if by taking great care of himself in therapy, he is better able to help her, too.

    I’m assuming the information for supporters actually contains suggestions on how to influence someone to take their medications.

    Unless you can tie them down, place the pills in their mouths, and not free them until you’ve imposed your will, you can’t make them do anything.

    Just a note, don’t be upset by that comment. I’m only speaking figuratively. It’s not a literal scenerio–I’m just pointing out the difference between “making” someone take medication and “influencing” them, but knowing ultimately the decision is theirs.

    Best to all, be well.
    J

  2. The really good places for anger management will tell the spouse that they (the person with bipolar) will not respond to any amount of therapy unless they are on the right medication to treat the symptoms of delusional thinking first. And only then will therapy help them. Until then it is just going around a circle and playing the bipolar game with the person who refuses to take medication and blaming everything on everyone else.
    If you go to therapy yourself or with your kids, a good therapist (in our case we got multiple opinions – they were all the same) will tell you to leave, which seems impossible at the time, but it is the only thing you can do to safe yourself, your kids and your spouse who refuses to take the medication that makes them able to respond to therapy.

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