I don't have bipolar disorder but I have crippling depression and anxiety. I learned at a very young age to keep my mental illness issues to myself. People are unbelievably judgmental and unforgiving when it comes to mental illness. Just look at the post a few pages back that said that anxiety is all in your head. People just don't get it. I got so sick of being told by my loved ones that, "Your life is great! You're so selfish for being suicidal!" I save my struggles for my therapist now. The weight of mental illness is heavy enough without the attached stigma.

to the OP with bipolar husband - yes, be careful with the information you share with others, especially if you relay the stories in the heat of emotion. If you paint something as dire and frightening, that's how they will remember it. Honestly if my daughter or niece told me their significant other pointed a gun at them I'd have a very hard time getting over it.

I guess we need to remember that there is not just one type of bipolar and there is not just one type of person who has it. We need to try and remove the stigma from mental illness, but it's clear that a lot of people still don't quite understand it or how to cope in a good way. My DH has the type of bipolar where he is mostly depressed but has manic episodes occasionally. The specific combo of meds he is on really works for him, so that's what he is sticking to. I could understand people in my family not wanting him around if he refused to take his meds and acted like an asshole all the time. We have no booze in the house now, since that just made any symptoms he had worse. I have the keys to the guns and I actually did give the guns to his friend for safe keeping and DH hasn't really wanted to go near a gun since the incident. Every situation is different, but it hurts my feelings that my aunt is being so unfeeling about this when she normally has so much compassion for people

I wrote about my sister having bipolar and alienating family members. I am not saying your husband should not participate in family events. I'm just saying your confession triggered memories for me and I confessed that in MY CASE that my sister cannot be part of our family due to her mental issues. I think you may want to be understanding of how scary and unsettling your husband's behavior can seem to others but I DID NOT SAY he should be excluded. Just sharing my own experience. Calm down.

I have a sister with bipolar. She is, unfortunately, often non compliant with her meds and has alienated a lot of family members. When she is manic she does some truly hateful, destructive stuff. She can do well for a year...sometimes several years..at a time. But when she goes off the deep end it is baaaad. It's a shame but I really don't let her around my family at all anymore. I will occasionally go to her part of town and have lunch with her but I don't invite her to group gatherings anymore. It's an unspoken understanding and she doesn't even ask. Seriously, some of the stuff she has done is criminal. It's a very scary disease and for our own protection we keep our distance.

I don't blame your aunt for not wanting him around. Just because he's doing well now doesn't mean he won't have another episode. I have bipolar relatives and I don't want them around either. Unfortunately that disease is difficult to manage.

I think I posted about it before...he had a manic episode and pointed an unloaded gun at me. Honestly, the second he did it he was sorry and couldn't beg me enough to forgive him for doing it. He was unmedicated and bipolar and this particular manic episode was like, really really bad. I probably should've had him hospitalized but I didn't really know what to do. However, after that episode, he went to a new psychiatrist who put him on a combination of a few different meds and monitored him closely for a long time. The combo of drugs really, really worked wonders and he hasn't had a single manic episode since. He screwed up. I get that he screwed up and what he did was extremely dangerous and could have been disastrous, but I also know that he is not himself when he is manic. BTW, I have the guns and the ammo and he hasn't touched either since then either. He's trying to show me that he really has changed and I hate that my aunt can't seem to see that.

I am the OP with the bipolar DH with issues with my dog. I am spending today moving things to my new place. Friends coming by tomorrow night to help me pack more stuff.Finally it is happening!!

I hate depression. Even more than that I hate bipolar disorder. It's like living on a roller coaster from hell. The manic isn't so bad because at least I can function. The depression has gotten so bad that all I think about is cutting and that scares me. My psychiatrist is no help. His idea of dealing with it is to tell me cutting is bad and I shouldn't do it. WTF? Like I didn't already know that. I just hope this depression eases soon. I don't know how much more I can take.

I have the bipolar DH with the issues with the dog. Just waiting for the hot weather to break so I can start moving stuff!!!! House still needs a little work-will get that looked at in the next week or so.