2.07 Paul Allen - Supporting my adult child through diagnosis and living with Bipolar
Lets Talk Bipolar - by Bipolar UKShow Notes
Paul’s son is one of 3 children and the whole family is very supportive to do what they can and be as supportive as they can in his journey of learning to manage and live with Bipolar.
Paul talks about the complexity of supporting his son and the impact of some of the emotional and financial impacts that have occurred because of his son being unwell.
It is evident that supporting a family member who lives with Bipolar is complex for all involved and presents its challenges all round. Bridging the gap between how everyone is feeling and know what to do and say do be supportive in the most helpful ways can be incredibly difficult to navigate.
We also discuss a trial treatment that his son had to lift him out of an acute depressive episode and is about to have another treatment imminently under a different management to help manage risks of mania after treatment and close follow ups and extensive clinical supportive and assessment meetings.
I would love to hear from family members that support those living with Bipolar and would love to do another episode with a family member in the future.
Please find support and resources on our website www.bipolaruk.org
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More from Lets Talk Bipolar - by Bipolar UK
In our last episode of the series 2 I am joined by Melissa Duncan and Jihan Gabart - Melissa was diagnosed with Bipolar 1. Jihan has been her best friend since the age of 14 and they have lived together and Jihan is a carer to Melissa to support her whilst living with this diagnosis.
Professor Allan Young MB, ChB, MPhil, PhD, FRCP (Edin.), FRCPC, FRCPsych answers your questions on bipolar:
Anastasia was seeing psychiatrists since the age of 9 so her journey has been a long one and coming to terms with her diagnosis was hard as all she had heard was fear and stigma around the diagnosis. After some research the diagnosis brought relief and made things make sense.
Yogini, triathlete, vegan, mother and lover, Natalie Leeke, has created and enjoys an unconventional and beautiful life with her 7 year old daughter in South west Florida.
Following her own diagnosis of Bipolar Clare and her husband decided to have a family and in doing so suffered with an episode of post-partum psychosis following the birth of her first born. Clare has worked extensively with specialists and Bipolar UK to work specifically about how to support and navigate this very difficult period of life. GP’s are under informed to support in the way they need to and because such little research historically has been done in this area there is a serious lack of information to offer birthing people the support they need.