Bipolar Disorder and Marriage But when one partner has bipolar disorder, simple stressors can reach epic proportions. That may be why as many as 90% of marriages involving someone with bipolar disorder reportedly fail.
It's common for someone with bipolar disorder to hurt and offend their partner. When someone is first diagnosed, there are often relationship issues that need to be addressed. Couples counseling can help you: Understand that there's an illness involved in the hurtful behavior.
Bipolar disorder can lead to irreparable relationships. The impulsive behaviors of the manic state can lead to extramarital affairs, lies, gambling, shoplifting, and other risky behaviors.
Bipolar disorder and marriage can be toxic to a relationship. That's when a relationship fails or is failing. It can trigger negative reactions that could lead to self-harm, self-loathing or worse. Relationship issues need to be watched and positively regulated from our youth onward.
If you spouse fully accepts the diagnosis and resolves to get treatment, you could begin working together and make the marriage stronger than ever. Many people with bipolar disorder have happy, successful marriages.
In the United States and Canada, at least 40 percent of all marriages fail. But the statistics for marriages involving a person who has bipolar disorder are especially sobering—an estimated 90 percent of these end in divorce, according to the article “Managing Bipolar Disorder” in Psychology Today.
A bipolar person may avoid relationships because they don't feel good enough for other people. Sometimes these feelings come on quickly and cause those with mental health conditions to push away others in existing relationships. This can lead to social isolation.
Mental health experts have found that some key features of bipolar disorder and narcissism overlap. These include setting high, sometimes unattainable, goals and being very impulsive. As a result, people with bipolar disorder often also have narcissistic personality disorder.
Ups and downs are normal in any healthy relationship, but a mental illness like bipolar disorder can incorporate unique challenges that can be difficult to manage. When you're dating someone with a mental illness, the relationship can feel like an emotional roller coaster.
Brain Changes
Research shows bipolar disorder may damage the brain over time. Experts think it's because you slowly lose amino acids. They help build the proteins that make up the insulation around your neurons.
The divorce rates for those living with bipolar disorder can be a much as 2-3x higher the general population, according to 2021 research.
You can absolutely have a healthy, happy relationship with a partner who has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. The condition may bring both positive and challenging aspects to the relationship, but you can take steps to support your partner and to help them manage their symptoms.
Of course, there are many reasons for infidelity within a marriage or committed relationship, and it's important to remember that having bipolar disorder does not mean you can't be faithful to a romantic partner.
All relationships require empathy, communication, and emotional awareness. These qualities help a person be a supportive partner to someone with bipolar disorder. People with well-managed bipolar disorder can build healthy, long term relationships.
The authors found that the pooled life expectancy for patients with bipolar disorder, after removal of 1 outlier study, was 67.4 years (95% CI 65.2-69.7), with no evidence of publication bias. Life expectancy was significantly shorter in men (64.6) compared to women (70.5).
The partner with the condition may have feelings of guilt, shame, and fear because of the impact of a mood episode on the relationship. Meanwhile, the spouse's partner may experience a range of emotions, including anxiety, resentment, loneliness, or feeling stuck.
Manipulation isn't a formal symptom of bipolar disorder, although some people with the condition may exhibit this behavior. In some cases, manipulative behavior is a result of living with another mental health condition, such as personality disorders, substance use disorders, or trauma.
Delusions can be a symptom of both manic and depressive episodes in people with bipolar disorder. These false beliefs can be very distressing to anyone who experiences them. If you're concerned about delusions in yourself or a loved one, seek help from your primary care provider, a psychologist, or a psychiatrist.
If your partner has bipolar, then it's possible that the reason they limit contact with you for a while is because they're struggling with: Low energy. Immense sadness. Disturbed sleep pattern.
There are a number of possible reasons why someone with bipolar would push others away. This tends to happen during depressive episodes, but it can happen when they're manic or symptom-free, as well. It can be painful when you're shut out, but it's not your fault.
Bipolar may worsen with age or over time if this condition is left untreated. As time goes on, a person may experience episodes that are more severe and more frequent than when symptoms first appeared.
“Living with a spouse diagnosed with bipolar disorder presents unique challenges. The disease involves frequent periods of unpredictable mood swings from being very depressed and withdrawn from family and friends—to periods of mania, anger, fights and risk-taking behaviors.