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Bipolar disorder has been a constant in my mother’s life for the past 20 plus years. She has been diagnosed through the years by different doctors, been in & out of hospitals & to this day, my mother has never come to terms & admitted she is living with BP. Because of her denial, it has been a challenge to get her to a doctor for treatment, keep a doctor once she agrees to it (she usually has been with a doctor for a few years & then turns against them) & have her stick with a treatment plan that is being monitored.
As a result, it has caused a downward spiral for my family. My father has given up on her (even though they still live together) & my siblings cannot cope with her illness. One lashes out of frustration & just runs away & the other moved cross country. I am the only one trying to keep things together but, now that I am married & have a child, I feel like I am losing control & am never there for her like I wish I could be.
My question is the following:
1)How do you get a person to admit they are living with BP? If they do not admit it, are they doomed & is it safe to say that nothing can save them unless they come to terms? 2)What support can I offer her IF she does not seek medical help & treatment? 3)Can a family intervention with a psychiatrist help her see her illness is real? Has this ever been done? If so, I imagine this could only take place IF & When the BP patient is neither in a manic or depressive state.
My mother rarely leaves the house anymore. She is 63 years old & doesn’t take part in any type of social activities or hobbies. As the years have passed & her children have grown, she is getting worse. I think it might be because there is no “motivation” for her to get out of bed OR to keep moving. At what point do you keep pushing & fighting for her to get better? At what point do you walk away & tell her that you cannot be part of her life until she seeks treatment & most of all, admit she is living with BP. I try over & over again to tell her that life can indeed go on with BP. That it is not the end of a road for her. I need some sort of guidance on how to keep moving?
Mental illness has such a horrendous stigma attached to it. People of your mom's generation still hold on to the beliefs they were raised and brought up in. Perhaps she doesn't want to admit she has a illness because of it. Folks have to remember the older generation just didn't acknowledge mental illness, you just didn't have it, and if you did you certainly never admitted it or spoke to anyone else about it. You can't do a whole lot for her if she refuses to acknowledge it however from your post you state she does see docs every so often so she knows something isn't quite right apparently. Unless she becomes a danger to herself or others there isn't a lot one can do.
