TEAMWORK

 Teaming up with your support personnel, like your significant other, family members, and friends, can be a powerful weapon in your war against bipolar illness. It also carries great risk. Admitting to others that you need help and, more important, that they are part of your contingency plan takes great trust, both in yourself and in them. It is essential, though. This is a great leap into the unknown for you and them, so pick your team carefully, accepting that this is a lifelong condition and that there will be times when you need them.

How does bipolar disorder affect the people closest to you? The people closest to you are the ones who are most affected by your bipolar disorder. They take the brunt of your actions and live with the consequences. Understanding and untangling the complex array of issues and the emotions that surround them is difficult and usually takes much time and effort. For your loved ones, the issue often comes down to finding ways to maintain a loving relationship through the long process of finding effective treatment and achieving greater stability.

The most important thing the people closest to you can do is to be on your side. Trust is paramount for teamwork. If they offer love, support, understanding, and tolerance, they will gain your trust, and you can team up and battle bipolar disorder together. By assuring you that you are not alone, you will not be as stressed and will have a better chance to win the battles against the enemy.

Other ways your support personnel can be valuable members of your team include:

Become knowledgeable of the disease

Understand that it takes time to recover from an episode

Help you watch for symptoms

Support your recovery plan

Urge you to stop (or reduce) drinking alcohol or taking Drugs

Get support for themselves

Guard against taking the “Holier than thou” attitude

Not try to make you dependent on them

Let you decide for yourself how to handle situations

Respect your independence

Your loved ones should not do for you what you can do for yourself. They cannot take the medicine for you; they cannot feel your feelings for you; they can’t solve your problems for you. They shouldn’t try. They should not remove problems before you can face them, solve them, or suffer the consequences. This is your life. They are on your team, but this is your battle to fight.

In summary, choose your team members wisely, enable them so they have the knowledge and tools to help you if you need them, and if you start having bipolar symptoms then don’t hesitate to call them for help.