Should i divorce bipolar

According to the Mayo Clinic, a person who is experiencing a depressive mood period would typically exhibit five or more the following symptoms:. Educate yourself. Arm yourself with knowledge. There are books, support groups, and other resources that can help you learn how to cope when a loved one has bipolar disorder.

Offer your unconditional love and create a space for your spouse to open up. Facing mental illness is incredibly tough and frightening. You can be a source of strength and hope for a mentally ill spouse. Bipolar disorder is a serious mental illness and not something you can fix for your spouse. Renew yourself. Marriage to a bipolar spouse can become an all-consuming task that swallows your previous self. You are so busy supporting them you lose sight of your hobbies, your needs, and your identity.

Make time for yourself to do what you like. Remember the words of flight attendants: In the unlikely event of a loss of cabin pressure, make sure your mask is on and working before helping others. Set limits, and even ultimatums if necessary. Mental illness does not excuse abuse of any kind. You should offer your support, but your spouse must meet you halfway by agreeing to seek and accept treatment for their illness.

Relationships mean working to support our loved ones and minimize hurtful behaviours. This applies to everyone.

Get professional help. Although it is possible your ex will not have extreme behaviors due during your divorce, it is important to be prepared. If you have not seen your ex under extreme stress, it may be difficult to predict how he or she may react. However, you can consider his or her past symptoms as some indication of what may occur. If you are leaving the relationship because your ex has become abusive or made threats to harm you or your children, you need to contact the police and take immediate steps to get protective measures in place.

Wisconsin courts take domestic violence seriously and you and your family law attorney can work together to request a domestic abuse restraining order and other necessary orders to ensure the safety of you and your family members.

When parties are going through a divorce, community assets are to be identified and maintained until they can be divided. When a person has bipolar disorder, he or she may make outlandish purchases on credit or spend community assets. If your spouse has spent your joint funds in this manner in the past, you may need to ask the court to place certain community assets into a constructive trust pending the outcome of the equitable distribution of the marital estate.

The specific details of what went wrong are between her and me, but here are the four most important lessons I learned. In our marriage, we both asked the wrong questions. This is hugely important in any endeavor, but it takes on extra significance when one partner is dealing with mental health issues. Look at it this way. Only a jerk would ask a spouse with a broken leg to go play soccer.

Nobody tells someone with cancer they can just will their way to health. When your spouse has the flu, you let them rest until they feel better.

Mental illness is a physical ailment with symptoms impacting behavior, personality, and the brain. Those symptoms have real and unavoidable effects on what people are capable of doing. For individuals living with mental illness, so many things go into how capable that person is on a given day. You have to be flexible without underestimating. Far too late for my marriage, I came across a fantastic set of questions to help with this.

A run-in with the law followed, triggering a manic bi-polar episode and a clinical diagnosis. When he returned to alcohol use, Marshall-Watts filed for divorce. With her spouse, manic irresponsibility steadily escalated, Marshall-Watts says. The only thing he had to show for his money was a Triumph sports car that had not run in over 10 years. He was drunk every day. Probation rules said he was to avoid alcohol. Despite instructions from his probation officer, he left Dallas County daily.