I'm new here. This is post number one. I found this forum when I was searching for info on bipolar symptoms and behaviour models. I have a topsy-turvy friendship with a bipolar woman; a relationship that swings from empathetic, compassionate and loving to insulting, hurtful and malicious, but I am not sure if it's something I need to rise above with patience and understanding, or whether I'm really best off to end our friendship altogether. For me it depends on whether her more unpleasant episodes might be attributed to her bipolar disorder. Of so, then I am willing to endure the discomfort of those episodes to preserve what I believe is a growing affection between us; willing to take the bad with the good. But although I've had a number of bipolar girlfriends, I've only seen this woman's behaviour model once before, and that was in a woman who disagreed with her bipolar diagnosis, and who self-medicated daily with cocaine. Neither of those things is true of my current friend, nevertheless, there are also some worrisome similarities between the two. I'm here to see if joining this forum can help me gain a greater understanding of my friend, and perhaps of myself as well since there are also some co-dependency issues here.
28 Jun 2013, 1:43 pm
