🎠What it means to have grown up with a parent who had bipolar disorder
Growing up with a bipolar parent meant living with two completely different people in the same body, never knowing which version would greet you when you walked through the door.
You may have learned to become a master mood detective, reading micro-expressions and energy levels to determine whether you were dealing with the manic parent who promised the world, or the depressed parent who could barely get out of bed. During manic episodes, you might have been swept up in grandiose plans and excessive spending, only to watch everything crash when depression hit. The dramatic swings taught you that love comes with extreme highs followed by devastating lows.
You may have developed an intense need for emotional stability while simultaneously feeling most comfortable in chaotic relationships that recreate those familiar patterns of intensity. The unpredictability of their moods taught you that people can completely transform without warning, making trust feel impossible even with those you love most. You learned to grieve the loss of the "good" parent even while they were still physically present.