Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Blended Families and Bipolar

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Blended Families and Bipolar

    Hi everyone,
    this may be a touchy subject, but I need some advice. I am in a blended family situation with my fiancee and my Step-son. My eldest daughter's dad took off 2 years ago, so he's not really in the picture. My fiancee and I have a daughter together. So, to paint a better picture, in total we have three children: a boy, and two girls.
    I also have bipolar disorder, severe anxiety disorders, PTSD and OCD. I am well maintained with my medication, go to support groups every month, see my counsellor a few times a month, and see my psychiatrist once a month.
    With that being said, my fiancees ex is a total nightmare. She's into an almost cult-ish religion/church, so she has really left-wing beliefs. I was born and raised catholic, but not a practicing one. AS a family, we go to church periodically, but not regularly.
    I'm a firm believer that if it wasn't for the church she attended, she would be a half decent human being and we'd probably even be friends. Because she has moments of clarity where I can talk to her, and then months and months of insanity where she is just intolerable.
    We've been getting along great for a really long time, until recently. It got so bad that I had to block her out of my life completely.
    And with having the mental illnesses I have... I am struggling to deal with it. We are also in the midst of moving, and that's when all these problems started with her.
    So on top of the stress from moving, and the every day battle with my mental illness, I also have to deal with her.
    Its more or less my anxiety disorders that cause me the most hassle. My other illnesses are under control and I feel good. But when my anxiety spikes.... blaaaaah, i get so upset. and angry, and frustrated, and irritated. and then I get depressed because I feel like I allowed that to happen, like after 31 years I should have better control of it.
    Does anyone else have these issues??

    #2
    Hello Ashfay22. I don't know if it's me or them, but I don't have much contact with a large portion of my extended family (in laws, niece's , nephews, siblings etc due to the negative effect that they have on my illness. As most of them are good people I can only assume that part of the responsibility is mine. Perhaps not anymore, but in the past I'm sure that I ticked them off when my treatments weren't going well and they aren't too forgiving. So my only course of action is to keep away from them and whenever I have to be around them I limit my exposure.

    My case is different than yours, but similar in the fact that some of my relatives would drive me daffy if I was around them. My wife is able to say "don't pay any attention", but I don't seem to be able to do that, so I have to limit my exposure. Take Care. paul m
    "Alone we can do so little;
    Together we can do so much"
    Helen Keller

    Comment


      #3
      thanks for reading, and responding, Paul.
      That is the approach I have taken with this, too. I'm blocking her out of my life for my mental health while we get through this move.
      Once we're all more settled, we'll see what happens. But I really don't think I'll be associating with her anymore unless I truly have to.
      My psychiatrist agrees with this approach as well.

      Comment

      Working...
      X