I came across a book – Loving Someone With Bipolar Disorder: Understanding and Helping Your Partner (Second Edition) by Julie Fast and John Preston, PsyD – while I was on vacation in Washington DC and decided to purchase it.
Super Quick Book Summary: The premise behind the book is to provide understanding about the disorder to someone who is not Bipolar themselves. It also suggests several exercises to potentially strengthen your relationship and help your Bipolar partner gain insight about themselves and how the disorder affects not only them but the people closest to them.
As we all know, one size does not fit all – especially in the case of books and this book in particular. I’ve heard of people thinking it’s a load of bologna and even partners getting scared out of their relationships because of what they read. In my case, the book fit the bill, and I asked my husband to read it when he got home.
Well, he did one better; he bought the e-book version while I was still in the process of explaining the book, and within a few hours, had read it cover to cover. And then read it again for good measure. And then asked me to start the exercises so that we could review them together when he got home.
Talk about support.
But it doesn’t just end there. My husband, a military officer, found himself counseling a soldier about his relationship with his wife. The soldier was, quite frankly, a little nervous about returning home because of his wife’s bizarre behavior. In fact, he was considering divorce.
Sean (my husband) showed him the book, and the soldier admitted that his wife sounded exactly like someone with Bipolar disorder. Last I heard, the wife will be heading to a psychiatry clinic for screening and the soldier feels infinitely better.
I’d say the book was worth purchasing.
