Bi-polar Disorder--Friend or Foe?

Bi-polar Disorder—Friend or Foe?

Both of my children inherited bi-polar disorder from their birth parents. It has further complicated their lives, which already were affected by the abuse and neglect they suffered before we adopted them. Now they have this disorder that affects their ability to control their mood swings.

It's been extremely difficult for my husband and me to learn how to help them conquer their struggles and find ways to feel positive about themselves. It seems to be a constant battle with one or both of them to help them learn how to make good choices.

I can only pray that they will one day come to terms with this disorder, and will make peace with it. I can only pray that they will take their medication consistently, and find a way to be successful in life. It is very hard for a mother to watch her children continually make bad choices, and then suffer from those choices.

Teenagers are difficult even under the best of circumstances. When you complicate their struggles by adding bi-polar disorder to the mix, they have such a battle to fight. All teens struggle to find their own places in life, their own personalities. Bi-polar Disorder makes that even more difficult because the mood swings are confusing. Who they are becomes even more confusing because they feel like two different people.

Sometimes they are happy and feel like things are pretty normal. Most of the time they are sad or angry, and don't even know why. It's just the nature of the disorder.

As with most of us, they tend to blame everything on themselves. They call themselves lazy, crazy, weird, bad, etc..., and blame themselves for all the discord in the household. This only makes their self-image worse, and pulls them deeper into the pit of darkness and sadness.

I pray one day we will look back on these years and heave a sigh of relief that everything turned out all right for them. My fear, however, is that we will never be able to say that. That is always a possibility.

Pat Nelson