(Best Of) | 19 | part 1 | SUPPORTING A LOVED ONE - advice for those living alongside

My name is Julie Kraft and I have Bipolar 2 Disorder.

I'm Julie Hoogendorn and I live with Bipolar 2 Disorder. I was diagnosed 10 years ago at the age of 36. I was told of my diagnosis and I remember being relieved but also terrified. I know the perceptions and the stigma that goes along with it. I started sharing my story about four or five years ago. I decided to come forward and start sharing. It's led to me meeting the most amazing people walking the same path. So we had talked about collaborating.

My greatest hope is that others will hear our stories and feel less alone. We can offer insight and give the world a real-life living example of what bipolar disorder can look like. This is bipolar. This is bipolar.

Welcome back to another episode of This Is Bipolar. I am Shaili Hugendore. I am a mama, a wife, teacher, event planner, all the things, and a fierce mental health advocate. And I just believe in storytelling, and that's why Julie and I are here. This is Julie. Yeah, I'm Julie Kraft. I'm also another fierce, passionate mental health advocate, wife, mama, artist, author.

And so, yeah, Shailene and I are just thrilled to be here, continuing to share parts of our journey and hopefully help encourage, offer insight. So we have another episode in store for you today.

Yeah, yeah. Today we are going to talk one of our number one questions, or we get messages daily about how to support someone, or it's people that love someone with bipolar, whether it be a friend, a parent, a roommate, or someone you know. And so we wanted to give our insight, the things that we've learned through our experience, and a few things that we've read.

We did want to preface that it is going to be a hard episode for those of us that live with the disorder, because it's really hard to know that affects relationships. And it's really hard, and Julie and I will get into it, to even. We're so hard on ourselves that when we know that we're affecting other people, it makes that internal voice that much meaner. So if you feel at any time, always take care of yourself first.

If you have to go away and come back, if this episode is too hard for you, we hope to see you in the next one. But we really wanted to try and give insight for those that love people with bipolar disorder, because the messages we get are from people that desperately want to understand or maybe support someone in getting help, etc., etc. And yeah, we're here to tell you from our point of view what is helpful and what you can do and what you can't do for someone living with bipolar disorder.

This also goes for, because we experience depression and anxiety, we know so many mental illnesses overlap. And so this is going to be, we believe this is going to be helpful for anybody that lives with someone that's neurodiverse or someone with a mental illness. So take care of yourself. And as per usual, here we go on our wild ride. I know for Julie and I, it's the there's such a level of guilt and shame and embarrassment.

And yeah, and so know that chances are your person already feels so, so terrible. So we're, yeah, it's going to be a hard episode because we don't want to stigmatize or villainize like us that live with it, but we also want to recognize how hard it is. So I think, yeah, that's where we're at. And we've been chatting beforehand and is this going to be okay? We want to take care of these people. And so then we're just like, just press record. We are not professionals.

We have a lot of experience in our how long we've lived with it we both are in our 40s and so take with it what you will and also keep in mind that it's as per usual it's our experience it could be very different for other people so let's jump right in julie some of the messages that we get, maybe let's start with the hardest one. Some of the messages that we get is how can I make my partner, roommate, friend, sister get help? We know there's help. We know they need help.

We've researched bipolar. We think they might have a mood disorder. And what do we do? Yeah. Yeah. And so what are your first thoughts about that? My first. Piece of advice or insight that I can give. And it's coming from my own experience because I was not diagnosed until 36. And so my husband and I spent over a decade living with my undiagnosed mental health struggle. And so he has now admitted to me that he desperately knew, you know,

that I was off balance, that I needed help. I wasn't coping. Even being a mom was overwhelming. And so he was walking that fine line and tiptoeing on eggshells. It's a very helpless, hopeless, exhausting, frustrating place to be as someone living alongside, knowing that if that person just took that step, got help, got the proper treatment, their lives and the relationship would be so much better off.

So I think just take that pressure off by knowing there's only so much you can do if someone else is resisting treatment or they're not ready to get help. The other thing is, it actually was an ultimatum on the part of my husband, and I know that does not work for everyone. It worked for me, and it was because I knew, I just assumed that my husband was going to put up with my behavior. I was lashing out behind closed doors. It was really affecting him and our kids.

And he did say, if you do not get help, seek help, our marriage most likely won't last and I'll have to take the kids and remove them from the situation. That was that, whoa, this is serious. If I don't step out and get help, I might lose it all. And so in that moment, I'll just be brutally honest, I did not wanna get help.

If it was up to me, if I was a single person, I don't know if I ever would have reached out for help, But for me, that ultimatum, that's what worked for me to take that next step and agree to go and get help. Sometimes we don't want to take that step for ourselves, but sometimes we need to do it for.

The people around us a lot of times people living alongside they're so scared to give an ultimatum or to set a brand a boundary or be firm with their partner or their friend but i think it's more than okay to set a boundary and say i love you i care for you deeply but this is what i can and can't handle or this is what i am willing to put up with in terms of how you treat me and And of course, it's always hard when you're the person on the other side of boundaries being set.

Your gut reaction is to sometimes lash back out or get defensive. But I would just say, do what you need to do to take care of yourself. I wish there was a piece of advice that I could say this and your loved one will absolutely drive their car to the doctor. But Shaylee, do you have any more thoughts on that? Because you get just as many messages and they can be so desperate at times. And so what are some of the responses that you're able to give back?

Yeah, yeah. The first thing I wanted to say too is because I know that we suffer in silence a lot of the time. But also I want to recognize if you're someone that loves someone with bipolar and or a mental illness that it can be very lonely. Because one, you don't want to out your person because of the shame and the stigma, right? Or the backlash that might happen. But also, you might have, we live in a society that doesn't look upon it kindly.

And you're also living in a lot of loneliness and a lot of silence. So I just wanted to honor that. And I just wanted to say that. We see you and we hear you and chances are your person at some point will hear you or will know, yeah, that this does hurt and that it is lonely and scary and can be awful. At the same time, I don't want to stigmatize us in saying, oh, there's no hope. Like I see things, even when I was Googling to look for a little bit, there's no hope.

Run get out of here but bipolar is incurable and it's lifelong but it is treatable and so I wanted to say that before I answered your question so what you were saying yes ultimatum so I don't know if that would have worked for me because I am feisty and I am and I deal with untreated a lot of anger still do but very very different than and very fiery because we like julie and i are both speaking to experiences when we're talking about our romantic

partners is we both have husbands so that's a little bit different but a lot of this will apply to platonic relationships as well but i think it just it depends and it depends where you're at julie you were saying you were 10 years or ish into your marriage. Same. We both got diagnosed actually pretty late. And I think we were just saying like, it shows that the stigma is lowering that people are getting help that much earlier.

We're so excited that a lot of messages we get are people like in their young twenties and in there, as much as we are so sad that they have to deal with it, the fact that they've gotten help, I definitely get stuck in a loop of the what if and what would my life look like and how much less trauma I would have with not having to live undiagnosed that long. That being said, what you said about the ultimatum, I would obviously, Julie's talking about a whole bunch of time, right?

They have a very established relationship, a commitment, that kind of thing. So she knew that this person loved them. I think before you did that, if you're not in that position or not a parent or a family member, I think that works for really close family members too. But I think you feel out your situation, but that worked for you. But I think starting off is the whole loving, right? And then knowing that they're safe with you and knowing all of those things and also the boundary setting.

Because if I don't trust you or feel safe, I actually take boundaries are devastating for me. Even though I preach, make them, when people make them with me, I take it so personally.

There's something and depending on the boundary but something that's with my closest people yeah because there is and it actually if i'm brutally honest it came up in my therapy recently because relationships morph and change and oh someone in my life set a boundary with me about how i talk to them when i'm manic and i i really struggle with that because there's years and years of this pattern and it's so difficult for me to sort thoughts

and because it's painful for me to feel like I don't get them out. My therapist was saying, I was like, they're right. And how terrible am I? And she said, she's, let's take time to mourn that you feel like not accepted anymore. And that's not the case. The person was doing that out of love, but be ready for strong reactions. But if you love them, stick around because sometimes we need the time and the hindsight.

So if you set that ultimatum and if we're manic or so depressed we can't get out of bed there will be a different reaction and it might take time and if you can because we get times of stability if you can wait it out to a more stable time you would probably get a more reasonable a reasonable reaction.

We feel things so deeply and we are so sensitive that I think it's so important for those living around us, whether it is a romantic partner or a friend, just for them to be aware that any boundary, any criticism of any form, sometimes any feedback, we can take it to heart so deeply that often it does cause either us to back away, put a wall up, get defensive and all those things. So just approach your friend or your loved one when you know they're in a more stable or calm place.

Just know it's going to go a lot better. Your chances of getting through to them or helping them to understand your point of view, chances skyrocket when we're in a more stable place.

Yeah, and we understand if it's, Julie and I both come from a bipolar 2 diagnosis, so it's hypomania, and a lot of times you get messages where it's in the height of mania, and you might have to set a boundary because there are untreated, there's such impulsivity, and can be unkindness, and things that are unmanageable, and please feel, know that sometimes love is stepping back and taking care of yourself because also, you're it's a disservice to the person that

you love because they're less it's harder to change the pattern if you don't really know and see see someone else's heart and i think like julie said we started off with a bang but i think we just needed people to know so they weren't holding on to the formula, but. It's the hardest thing, but you can't change someone.

And even if Julie went just for her husband, but if she didn't claim that treatment plan or claim her diagnosis, and it might take a while and be willing to do that, just your partner, friend, loved one, just going for help for you isn't going to be enough. It might start the ball rolling, but it isn't going to be enough. But yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Julie, what can you think of? And we didn't talk about this. I'm gonna throw it at you, though.

Can you think of an example of a boundary? Because people might be like, yeah, you're trying to set a boundary. But what's a reasonable boundary? Because I found some of the ones given to me are like, you can't do you can't do this in this kind of episode when it literally feels impossible. And so I just want to give up. Can you think of the boundaries you can start with? The biggest boundary my husband has set is just in the way that I treat him.

So whether it's the way I speak to him, but if it's heated and I'm lashing out or being, I can be really nasty. Yes, we all have that side of it. But the boundary he sets is he will remove himself from the situation, which makes me livid. But now I realize he has every right to say, I need to step away and just remove myself. And when I hear the car go, I am upset, angry, embarrassed, but how on earth could I expect him to stay there and take it?

Sometimes I want to engage. I want to fight. I want a good fight. And I don't know if it's me wanting to see him lose it or yell. He's a very calm and stable man. I'm very fortunate to have him, but oftentimes I think we self-stigmatize and I feel so, I felt in moments so out of control and nasty and ugly that I don't know if subconsciously I'm trying to push him to that limit to make myself feel better, but he'll just say, I refuse to engage.

There are so many other examples of boundaries, but I don't know in your relationships, people have ever set boundaries and it's gone or not so well as it was in my case. Yeah, yeah.

I think too, yeah, you're speaking post-diagnosis too, so I think it's going to be hard for us to speak to, and I think we'll get other guests on our panel, but hard to speak to the type of boundaries pre, because it's been a while, because we're in our 40s. But I think even then, right, modeling healthy communication. And I think, too, like same with the driving, I'd be like, would threaten in the beginning, like leaving or those kinds of things. Cause I'm not desperate.

And I wanted people to understand two things. One, if I don't like what you said, you knew you have, you knew he would come back. I think if you're going to leave the room, I think if you're going to do that, maybe also say, I'm going to come back. We will talk about this again, but I need this. And I think it's really powerful because before I went on that healing journey that's lifelong, you're so in the moment, you don't, and you're so impulsive, you actually don't know what you need.

And I can barely verbalize what I need. And so also too, like you were saying, I could even see it in your face, the embarrassment or whatever. And you're like, oh, I'm feisty, which we are. But also, I think one of the things that was so freeing to me and to explain to my husband and to my mom or other people that I'm the hardest on is that. It's so intertwined, right?

Yes, because it actually is the intensity of the anger and how fast it comes on and the physical response actually aren't our fault which is hard to say because you also can't on the other side which we're going to talk about in another episode you can't use that right you still it's not fair to do horrible things when you're that angry but I also want to recognize even now even medicated even after years and years being the advocate right knowing all the things I can go from zero to

furious and if you can if it's in you and doesn't completely trigger you and you've gone away and come back if you can look through it like my husband talks about his shaley glasses or a lens he tries to put that extra protective lens on just like you said of this is the the intensity of this is the bipolar anger does that mean Because sometimes that doesn't take away the thing sometimes that I'm upset about, right? It doesn't take away that it's a problem that we might have. And...

Just putting on the grace lens or the seeing it through that it's that much harder. Because sometimes when you're in your own self, you think, I'd never talk to her like that when I'm mad. But also, you have that not having an illness barrier. And so it's this really hard dance. And that's where I think what would be my next point is you are going to need support, even if we don't want you to get it. You are going to need support. You can't tell us to go to counseling and all those things.

And that you're like, it's a lot to take. Bipolar people doesn't mean that we're not awesome, but it is a lot to take. Think about how deeply we feel the emotions and then we spew it onto someone else. Sometimes for things that don't even matter, sometimes for things that are deep, deep seated things. So one of my things, and one of my favorite is Glennon Doyle. She talks about putting on her spectacles. So spectacles and perspective is trying to see us through that lens.

When those harsh words are maybe spoken at you, just remember that there is mental illness or mental health struggle. And, you know, sometimes I in my life am so frazzled or I have so much anxiety on a daily basis or I'm in a deep depression that it is everything I can do to just get through the day. And so when I lash out at my husband, it has oftentimes nothing to do with him.

It has everything to do with just how exhausted I am or how frustrated I am. And, Oftentimes, the people we love the most get our worst because we wouldn't dare think of treating the grocery store cashier in the way that we might talk to our husband in the privacy of our own home. So many times I've uttered just really harsh things at my husband and then gone back later and just said, it wasn't you. Of course, I love you dearly. I was just upset or frustrated about this.

And I think that's what's so tricky for people living alongside.

Unless you have had depression or anxiety it is so hard to understand and put yourself in our brains and just understand the level of frustration or exhaustion that we sometimes have yeah and what I think I've tried to do because we also know people possibly in our lives right that struggle with mental illness and when putting on the goggles or whatever I try to think about and I've asked my husband to do this too is try and think about maybe and

I don't want to trigger anybody that has has had cancer or does have cancer but I'm trying to find some way to explain it and you would not if someone was short when they might be having a symptom like nausea or this. Or you're watching them hobble around because they have a broken leg or because it's hard to walk, try and picture it like that. It doesn't look like that because we look perfectly fine on the outside except for maybe a red face or whatever.

Try and look at it like that because we've been so conditioned for it to be like a character flaw. And if you can see it like that, which is so hard to be compassionate to someone when they're attacking you and angry or telling you that their life is terrible and you're thinking, what does that say about me as a friend, mom, or whatever, if you can try and think of it that way, try and think about an illness that you would have compassion about. It's really hard for both sides.

And so, yeah, yeah, you were going to say something else. Yeah, and then jumping to put your oxygen mask on first, as someone living alongside, you must seek support. There is so much shame and stigma surrounding mental health.

And so if you are living alongside someone, and yes, Shaley had talked about how lonely and isolating it can be, it is worth it and it is okay to reach out to a trusted person. Now, I would be, of course, very careful about who you share. Your story with. And I was terrified that my husband was going to share with people and I was going to be judged. He was going to be judged. I did not want him to talk to my in-laws.

I just, oh, the thought of them finding out what we were dealing with behind closed doors just was devastating to me. But I now realized he needed to reach out and get support.

So then in turn he could be strong enough to support me in my weaker moments and that's really tough but yes I'll go back and say that not everyone deserves to get every part of your story not everyone is safe so I would just encourage you if you have a trusted friend or family member that you can open up to and share with it just makes it so much easier and then during those darker more difficult times it just helps to know that someone else knows what you're going through it

can make all the difference if it's still sensitive and in the beginning julie talked about a trusted friend or whatever you can i would suggest before even doing that if your person is so devastated and still trying to figure things out therapy and or there are so many groups online now if people wouldn't know you, like support groups. I think of one specifically that I tell a lot of people about in messages is Julie Fast has, I think it's called The Stable Table.

It's in a Facebook. And just like our biggest thing is messages that we get and how we feel is heard and connect with other people that understand and know that you're not alone. That's what people that love other people probably need too. I remember my husband telling me one time, because he was in one of those groups, and I think it was a struggling time. And, oh, I had a hard time listening to it.

But he was saying that it was really good because the person told him to remember the good times or write down the things that you love about them. So when it's ugly and messy, that you remember that that's not fully them. And but yeah, at first, maybe especially because when it's a parent relationship or a friend relationship, if you talk to someone in the friend group, like outing your person isn't it's a hard line and maybe stick to your story.

Yeah. Telling someone else's complete story in a place where it isn't really safe and protected.

It is hard to and it took julie and i years yeah like julie tells a story about tell about your finding out as i mentioned earlier i had forbidden my husband to reach out for help in any way shape or form and i did saunter into his office and his screen was open he had an anonymous name but he was in a bipolar spouse support group and i just flew off the handle and i think it was just because it was all me focused. I took it as an attack on me. I took it as he had betrayed me.

You touched on some other fantastic points. I think it is so important as someone living alongside to reassure us and let us know whether you are giving us an itty-bitty ultimatum or setting some boundaries. It helps so much more if that's backed up with, I love you so much. I care so much about you. And I am going to walk this journey with you because there can be that fear of stepping out, getting help, getting a diagnosis.

And then the fear of that person saying, whoa, bipolar, I'm out of here. Like I can't stick around for that. So if we feel that safety and security, it might also make us willing to make that next step. I wanted to speak to the part that you said about reassurance. And I know that many people feel this, but I'll speak to my experience.

But some of the intrusive thoughts that I get, so for those of you who don't know, they're almost, and they borderline with obsessive thoughts. And we mean that in the clinical way, not in the society uses the mental health term for personality trait way. Where it's you're stuck and it's like on a loop or if you're old school a mixed tape if you're new if you're young maybe your spotify is stuck on one song but it's this it takes over completely and a lot of times i think i'm not worthy or the

people are gonna leave me i have a big one with that. It's so hard. And even when I know it's not true, my brain tells me. Oh, another one is in friendships that I'm a burden. And because it's lifelong, like sometimes we're used to our friends or family coming to us when there's a life event happening. What's wrong? What made you feel this way? Nothing, right? It might not be any external thing. It's my body.

And just being able, I just feel I feel annoying I feel and because it's a cycle I come back to and I'm saying the same things and I think they must be like oh my gosh and they might be in private who knows but if someone if you love them and you're in for the long haul or if you're related to them and you don't have a choice no reassure reassure and I have friends now where I can say the story I'm telling myself because

sometimes people can get annoyed or offended like I've told you I married you like of course yeah you actually need to hear it to combat the thought right and yeah and just. And the words do matter. You might think, oh, it's not working. But remember, it's going to keep happening to us. It isn't like a pill that you take, like an antibiotic, and then it's gone.

We need those reassurance of the words. And just like we're repeating things, don't feel like you always have to find different ways to say it, saying the same thing over and over. And I felt so silly when I asked friends when I'm struggling or my husband or my mom, like telling me I'm safe or whatever. And I'm like, oh, that's ridiculous. Of course I'm safe. Oh, what a loser. You don't think you're safe? You're fine. But I noticed, try and watch their body. Like my shoulders relax.

Does it fix everything? Am I nice? Am I miraculous? Not always. Because our bodies react like we are in danger.

Yeah like we are walking into running from a burning building that's what it feels like and or and that's how physically like we're always trying to do the mind body it isn't just because it's called a mental illness people think it's all in your head it's all the research is showing like it's you feel it in your body and all with your nervous system and saying you are safe or Or, yeah, can I give you a hug?

That's not always a good thing. Or something to regulate their nervous system, but find the things. And I think that will lead to one of our next points.

I'll start and then I'll throw it over to you. The idea of finding out what works for the person because everybody's different. Like someone might be like, think that's condescending, right? Or someone. And because bipolar is a cyclical thing, and I know sometimes it might have to wait for a really long time for them to get out of a depressive or hypomanic or manic episode. So you might not be able to wait entirely, but if you can at all possible.

Dive into talking about it. Sometimes I think people think if you talk about it, that you're going to be afraid to bring it up, that it's going to put you into a cycle. But I think it's important when you're stable or having a better day, or can we put aside time to talk about this?

Can you emotionally prepare yourself or do your nervous system calming and And try and figure out, because our brains work so fast, sometimes we don't stop and think, figure out the things that actually do work or try them and be like, no, that doesn't work. Some things work when I'm depressed that set me off when I'm mad. So you try and find those things when we're more open and willing to talk about it so that you can refer back to those things because they're very, very different.

Like the example I give about the really loud music or like having some chaos outside of me instead of the zen, right? Doesn't always work for me. Sometimes I need my outer world for 10 minutes to be as chaotic as my inner world. So they match and then I can calm down, which most people that I've talked to, I've talked to something that's the same, which makes me feel better. But I think what a weirdo, But that works for me in certain situations.

Yeah, I'll throw it over to you talking about that. You hit the nail on the head. Communication. Just asking when we're in a more stable, calmer place, what should I do? What is the best thing to say? And I love nothing more than to talk about my disorder. When people actually ask me questions, tell me what it's like to live inside your brain. Okay, driving is hard for you. Explain that to me. And any chance I can get to give insight and offer a glimpse into my mind, I take it.

So yes, like you had mentioned, don't be afraid to go there and talk to us because we're living it. It's our daily experience. So I really appreciate that. So there's a little tip. And there was one other tip. Oh, just a few more actual examples from my marriage. at some point in your relationship or friendship, you can't keep score. And there are going to be times when you, as someone living alongside, is going to be giving more. And of course, there will be seasons where you will get more.

But if you can, as hard as it might be, not keep score. And then one other tidbit, sometimes when I am so upset and frustrated and not being a nice person. It's probably everything my husband wants to do is to get out of there, take off. But sometimes the most effective thing, and I know this would be so hard, is he comes over quietly. And he reassures me and gives me, you had talked about a hug, gives me a hug.

And sometimes that is the most effective thing because I'm either geared up for a fight or I'm fully expecting him to leave me. And there's something about that for me that just diffuses it all. And oftentimes I will completely break down and it will lead to some of our hardest conversations, but some of our most vulnerable and powerful conversations.

Conversations now it doesn't always work that way no and I'll tell you about me yeah that so it's interesting how we're so different and that's what we talk about figuring out that would piss me off.

Because I'm just being honest here because I would feel like it was because I had to be told that I like it's like I'm weak but in some situations it would right like probably in depression and I think maybe we'll switch gears to talk more about that Julie and I talk a lot more about mania because with our medication, we experience depression less. So sometimes we talk heavy on that. So we're going to try and dig deep and think back to that.

But the asking, can I? So then I think about it and I'm like, do I want it? And then if I do, yes. But for Julie, like you can always try. If they're prickly and they don't, then you won't. But some people asking, it's that whole figuring out thing. Like anger is a second, there's always a secondary emotion, right? And so to find, to try and find out what's behind it with the person you said.

And so some, you can find certain language and if you use it every time, even though it might seem condescending or weird, it actually triggers a part of your brain to be able to retrieve stuff. So my big one is the story I'm telling myself. So if people ask me, what's the story that you're telling me?

Yourself or what's behind the anger what feelings are you also feeling or sometimes being able to recognize it in my body or I notice you're getting that you're getting really worked up or warm or can I offer you if I look like can I offer you a blanket or should we go outside try and notice you can when you spend that much time with someone you can notice their physical and I tense up and I my hands I could tell when I'm talking are

a little bit more like this and being able to recognize those body cues and without saying you're I think you need to be outside to calm down no and in fact there's words that we've mixed chill out or calm down those are trigger words and I tell my kids we don't use them we just don't use them because when in the history of ever does someone oh okay no and we do have two entire episodes that dive deeper into this words that hurt and words that help.

So if you're watching and you're like, yes, this is helpful, but I need even more tips. Definitely go back and check out those other episodes because we dive right into specific things, you know, for sure and say and things that you should never say. Yeah. And if you start off like that, instead of in an accusatory way with each other.

With whoever you're talking to, like the story I'm telling myself is, and it might be true, Like the story I'm telling myself is that you're really mad at me because you think my choice was terrible and that I totally suck. But then instead of saying, you think I suck, right? Sets a tone a little bit. So I use that a lot.

Relationships are hard and messy no matter what. And that's the other thing I think we always think because we have bipolar disorder, there's this stigma that we're not capable of having healthy long-term relationships.

And I just think relationships, period, to make any relationship or friendship successful is work. The other thing too, I've been married 26 years and if I took my not so great moments, my ugliest, messiest moments, they only account for a small blip in there. That's not to say they don't have long-term effects or have led to some deep heart and heartache.

But I think oftentimes we're just so focused on those more challenging times that we forget your picture and that But on the whole, our marriages or our friendships are amazing.

Hi, everyone. Thank you for tuning in to part one of this episode. For all those living and loving alongside how to support your loved ones dealing with a mental health struggle, stay tuned. Part two will be out soon. Thanks again for watching. Thank you so much for joining us today on this episode. You can find previous as well as future episodes on YouTube for the video version. You can find the podcast on Apple, Spotify, Google Play, and Podbean.

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Another thing that's really helpful if you're a listener for the podcast if you could leave a review we would be forever grateful again thank you for being here with us let's get the word out let's share lived experiences so that we can change the ideas that people have about bipolar and help those of us that live with it feel less alone see you next time. Music.