People with Bipolar Disorder Can Have Healthy Marriages

July 5, 2012 - PRLog -- Love Has Its Ups and Downs when you are married to someone with bipolar disorder and nobody knows that better than Bonnie Rice, who writes of her long, happy, and often complicated marriage. Although her husband wasn't diagnosed until nearly twenty years into their marriage, the ups and downs she experienced had started before the marriage.

Read the latest blog posts, articles, and download a workbook of written exercises and forms at http://getolife.org

As they explored the meaning of the bipolar 1 diagnosis, Rice and her husband learned that although a lot of their problems were explained, they weren't so easily solved. There is no cure for bipolar disorder. There are treatments and medications that can work wonders, but to maintain a happy marriage something more was needed.

After joining support groups and talking to others who were dealing with the symptoms of bipolar, she realized that there were coping techniques that she had stumbled upon over  the years that worked for her and that after she'd explained them, also worked for others. In a few months, she picked up more techniques that others had discovered and found that those also worked for her.

Not only had support groups and forums offered support, but they also offered a wealth of ideas that might not look good in a laboratory, but they worked in the real world. Rice had a history as a writer, and putting these ideas into words that resonated with the people who were actually living this experience seemed to come naturally.

Chapters on setting boundaries for protection,  detaching from irrational behavior, and maintaining a healthy lifestyle will show how to maintain safety and sanity. Learn when to "walk on eggshells," rarely because it doesn't work, and how to be agreeable without having to agree.

Chapters on symptoms, doctors, drugs and therapy will show how to understand what the partner is going through and what can be done to help without taking over. Learn when to call the doctor, what to tell the doctor, and how to communicate with a doctor who can't legally talk back.

Most chapters include written exercises and forms that are hard to fill out in paperbacks or eBooks. Copies of these are available on http://getolife.org as a free downloadable 8.5"x11"  size workbook in either a WORD or a pdf file. Make as many copies as needed, quickly and easily.