Living With Bipolar Parents

Bipolar disorder is a difficult disease to cope with, especially if your parent is the one with it. As a child you are most influenced by the things around you, so living with a bipolar parent can be devastating.

Hereditary

• Children with bipolar parents are 14 times as likely to be diagnosed with it. This is factored by brain structure, chemical imbalance and life events.

Education

• It is important to educate a child on what bipolar disease is, how it affects a person's behavior and how to deal with it. This will help a child understand why a parent acts certain ways or that hurtful words do not always mean anything.

Pessimistic Attitude

• It is important for parents to understand a negative outlook on life greatly influences a child's outlook on life. If a parent is negative about everything a child will be as well.

Bonding

• Bipolar parents have difficulty bonding with children because they are often overprotective. It is hard for a bipolar person to have it anyway but their own, so they often push their children to be how they want them to be.

Guilt

• At times bipolar parents lay guilt on children for not acting how they want or doing things they want them to do. This can often lead to a child growing up quickly to take care of his or her parent.

Understanding

• If a child grows up understanding what bipolar disease is, how to treat it and why people act as they do it can mold them into an understanding person. They may be less judgmental and able to be friends with a variety of people.