How to Help Someone with Bipolar Disorder

Learning how to help someone with bipolar disorder is just as hard as learning how to ask for help as someone diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

When you live with bipolar disorder and are going through a depressive or hypomanic episode, your primary objective is to make progress towards happiness and balance. Venting our pain in conversation with our friends is not a bad thing, but is it helpful? Is a friend just "being there" really helpful?

Look at it in a different context and see if it makes sense. If you help a friend move, you may pack boxes for them, which reduces their stress and makes the move a lot easier for them. If you think the best way to help a friend move is to sit by their side while they pack boxes and tell them what a great job they are doing, are you helping? You may be relieving their stress for a moment, but overall it is a nice gesture, not a helpful one.

Our friends don't know how to help us, and we don't know the right way to ask for help. You have to understand that other people don’t have lived experience with bipolar disorder and it may be difficult for them to truly get what is happening with our bipolar minds. If our friends and family members do not understand what it takes to help us, then our relationships will slowly dwindle.

In this video, I share the difficulty in asking for help when you live with bipolar disorder and how our family and friends may be able to assist us more efficiently.

Finding ways to explain our lives with bipolar disorder to our loved ones begins with an open and honest conversation. Share this with those around you, including your friends, to open the doors to this type of discussion.

Do your friends and family members really know how to help you? Comment below or do a response video and share what you believe would be most helpful to someone diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Send response videos into info@ healthyplace.com.

See you next week! Thanks!
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Hannah posts a new video every Monday morning on the HealthyPlace YouTube channel. You can help spread awareness and understanding by sharing this video or playlist. And if you find the video helpful, I hope you'll give it a thumbs up.

I'm Hannah. I Have Bipolar 2 Playlist: ow.ly/RR99305UIxg
I Have Bipolar Too blog: bit.ly/2u00vyf

RELATED ARTICLES ON HOW TO HELP SOMEONE WITH BIPOLAR DISORDER

How to Help a Bipolar Loved One | bit.ly/2wQ16Er
How to Help Someone with a Mental Illness | bit.ly/2ufh7lM
Supporting Someone with Bipolar: For Family and Friends | bit.ly/2wQd15l