Communicating with Your Bipolar Supporter

Even now, after all this time without a bipolar episode, I still have bad moods, or what I call bad bipolar days. On those days, usually I just want my husband (my primary bipolar supporter) to leave me alone to work it out myself.

But there are other times when I just want him to hold me and tell me that everything's going to be all right. The problem is, I usually expect him to just read my mind and to know which thing I want him to do. Right. I expect him to be a mindreader. Not fair to him, is it? I know, but I do it anyway.

I wish I could blame it on my disorder, but I can't. The only thing I can blame it on is poor communication on my part. I can't expect him to be a mindreader any more than he could expect me to be. I have to tell him what my needs are if I expect him to fulfill them.

That's just good communication. It's also a part of good management of bipolar disorder. You need to be able to share your thoughts and feelings with your bipolar supporter. They love and care about you, and want to help you, but they can't do that if you don't give them any directions.

Our disorder (the dragon, as I call it) would try to fool you into thinking you're all alone in this fight against it, that your thoughts are always right, even if they're negative, but that's just not true. Sometimes your thoughts can fool you.

And thinking that you're alone is one of those thoughts. You are NOT alone! You have at least one other person, your primary supporter, who loves you and cares about you, and wants to help you get better. You should not shut them out, especially when you're experiencing negative thoughts.

I have had to learn that the hard way. But now I know that when I'm having a bad bipolar day, whether I want to be alone or whether I want my husband to just hold me and tell me that everything's going to be ok, I need to open up and share those thoughts and feelings with him, and NOT expect him to be a mindreader!

Our supporters are there for a reason. For us. To help us. But one thing they are not is mindreaders - they only know what we tell them. The better our communication is with them, the better supporters they can be. We can help them to be better supporters for us, and they need that from us.

Don't forget to check out my new bipolar book. Click here: www.brokenroseministries.com

Wishing you peace and stability,

Remember God loves you and so do I,
Michele