Hi,<\/p>\n
How’s it going? I am writing you today with some
kind of strange. It’s a phenomenon that I like
to call, “addicted to the struggle of bipolar
disorder.”<\/p>\n
What’s this mean? Well I noticed that since I have
been doing this for over 2 years now, there are
certain groups of people that never make any
progress. This is both supporters and those
with bipolar disorder. <\/p>\n
I started thinking about why this is. Now
as you might know I have several different
resources to help people. Things like
my foundational systems\/courses.<\/p>\n
SUPPORTING AN ADULT?
Visit:
http:\/\/www.bipolarsupporter.com\/report11<\/p>\n
SUPPORTING A CHILD\/TEEN?
Visit:
http:\/\/www.bipolarparenting.com<\/p>\n
HAVE BIPOLAR DISORDER?
Visit:
http:\/\/www.survivebipolar.net<\/p>\n
The people who go through these materials
and really take action do well. NOW, there
are people who for whatever reason haven’t
invested in my course\/systems and just read
over my daily emails over a year, articles
and f.ree mini courses and these people do
well too.<\/p>\n
So I asked myself, “what’s the deal with
some of the people on my list that are always
having problems with bipolar disorder?”<\/p>\n
Yesterday I was in the car for 11 hours
so I had time to do a lot of thinking. I didn’t
have anything else to do so thinking was the
best I could do to entertain myself.<\/p>\n
Anyway, I then had some numbers of people
that I use to talk to that were having serious
problems. I decided to call some of them.
I did a lot talking to people and then
it hit me that SOME of the people that don’t
make any forward progress are what I heard
a while ago “addicted to the struggle.”<\/p>\n
What’s this mean? I heard this some time
in my life and it always stuck with me because
it was funny to me like “selling your car for
gas money.”<\/p>\n
I use this with bipolar disorder. It means that
a person, whether he\/she is a caregiver or
has the disorder themselves gets so caught up
in the struggle of bipolar disorder, they kind of
get use to it and almost couldn’t function if
there were no struggle.<\/p>\n
They almost create their own problem and really
don’t treat to undo what’s causing the problem.<\/p>\n
NOW, before I get hate mail. I realize this is
NOT and I repeat NOT everyone who is not doing
well. It’s some people. <\/p>\n
Let’s look at which kind of people. These are
the people that expect the worst from bipolar
disorder, that expect there to be constant struggle,
expect that the right combo of medication will
not be found and as result these people actually
wind up doing things, many times unconsciously
that undermine forward progress with the disorder.<\/p>\n
As a result they are always “battling” bipolar
disorder. These people say things like “oh well,
you know how it is, it’s constant problems.”<\/p>\n
It means bipolar disorder and people who say
things like this find themselves having life long
problems with the disorder. It’s kind of a hard concept
to explain and it might seem that I am not making
any sense.<\/p>\n
But if this doesn’t refer to you, be thankful because
it refers to many people that I speak to that struggle.<\/p>\n
If this does seem like you, you need to start to
realize that bipolar disorder can be managed, there is
hope and information to make this happen and you have
to actively take action in a positive way to make
forward progress each day to get to where people like
my mom are, and the people that work for me–high functioning.<\/p>\n
Many times, these daily emails can’t have every answer
to every question but serve as something that gets
you thinking about a particular subject. In this case,
it’s the concept of addicted to the bipolar struggle.<\/p>\n
Right now, it would be interesting if anyone is willing
to step up and post a story on my blog that they might
be this type of person that I am talking about.<\/p>\n
Let’s see what people have to say. I am not sure if
this concept make complete sense to everyone. If not,
maybe tomorrow I will try to explain further and make
it clear.<\/p>\n
Before I let you go, let me throw in another example.
My dad and brother before I started helping my mom,
basically said, “oh we have tried everything, nothing
will work to help.” I had a different attitude. I didn’t
think they did that much and I just knew that my mom could
get better and way better. At the time I didn\u2019t know what
high functioning was or meant but that was what I was shooting
for just not using that term.<\/p>\n
Anyway, I think that my dad and brother got so use to the
chaos of bipolar disorder with someone (my mom) who
was not under the right treatment plan, they almost became
addicted to the struggle of dealing with my mom.<\/p>\n
My brother for example loved to talk about what the holiday
was going to be like. Each year he would make jokes about
it and it was at least a 1 hour conversation before each holiday.
It became built into his schedule so to speak.<\/p>\n
It’s strange but true. He wound up getting use to it
along with my dad instead of being proactive and realizing
“hey this isn’t normal and there’s a way to help mom
become stable and not create any problems.” They didn’t think
like that and as a results years and years went by with
my mom off track so to speak. <\/p>\n
It wasn’t until I stepped in with a fresh new look
at the entire problem and I guess I wasn’t smart enough
to think that bipolar disorder was chaotic. I found out
my mom had bipolar disorder and I just was like, “okay
well let me learn everything to help her become a success
with it.”<\/p>\n
I think if I would have seen or heard horror story after
horror story about people with bipolar disorder or maybe
have been engaged in actively trying to help my mom and
that failed for many years, I might have become addicted
to the bipolar struggle myself.<\/p>\n
Does this all make sense to you? I hope so. Well
I have to take off. I will catch you tomorrow.<\/p>\n
SUPPORTING AN ADULT?
Visit:
http:\/\/www.bipolarsupporter.com\/report11<\/p>\n
SUPPORTING A CHILD\/TEEN?
Visit:
http:\/\/www.bipolarparenting.com<\/p>\n
HAVE BIPOLAR DISORDER?
Visit:
http:\/\/www.survivebipolar.net<\/p>\n
Your Friend,<\/p>\n
Dave<\/p>\n
P.S. Check out my F.ree blog with copies of emails
that I have sent in the past and lots of great
information for you:
http:\/\/www.bipolarcentral.com\/supporterblog\/<\/p>\n
P.P.S Check out my F.ree podcast. Hear me give
mini seminars designed to teach you information
you can’t learn anywhere else.
http:\/\/bipolarcentral.libsyn.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hi,<\/p>\n
How’s it going? I am writing you today with some
kind of strange. It’s a phenomenon that I like
to call, “addicted to the struggle of bipolar
disorder.”<\/p>\n
What’s this mean? Well I noticed that since I have
been doing this for over 2 years now, there are
certain groups of people that never make any
progress. This is both supporters and those
with bipolar disorder.<\/p>\n