When you live with bipolar disorder, you become accustomed to expecting the unexpected. Children and teenagers who have a parent struggling with manic depression can experience confusion, anger and frustration.
When you make the decision to get professional bipolar disorder help, it is important that you share your decision and your hopes for the future with your children. Teenagers can be difficult to communicate with, but it is important to make the effort.
Reasons to Be Honest with Your Teenager about Bipolar Disorder
Teenagers are surrounded by a world of stress and temptation on a daily basis. After dealing with peer pressure and the pressures of being a teenager in school coming home to a parent who is struggling with bipolar disorder and addiction can be too much to cope with. Teenagers who have an unstable home life are more likely to develop addiction and mental health issues of their own.
When you sit down to address your mania and depression, you are opening up a dialogue to further discuss the importance of seeking help when problems become too large to manage alone. If you are also struggling with an addiction, it is important to openly discuss the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse and also the importance of professional help.
While you should be a strong source of support for your teenager, you will also need your teenager to understand that you must sometimes seek support for yourself and get help for mental illness that is keeping you from living your life to the fullest. The more that your kids know about bipolar disorder and addiction the more that they can understand your behaviors and your strong drive to get quality professional help for mental illness and addiction.
How to Talk to Your Teenage Child about Bipolar Disorder
The way in which you start the dialogue about the addiction and bipolar disorder that you are entering into a bipolar disorder rehab for is entirely up to you. A lot of it will depend on the type of relationship that you currently have with your teenager.
A face-to-face sit down conversation is often best as it leaves no room for miscommunication, but a lengthy telephone call in which you are honest and open can be a good choice if your teenagers are estranged or do not live with you. The important thing is that you get that conversation started and that you do your part to help your teenager understand addiction and bipolar symptoms.
Help Talking to Teenagers about Bipolar Disorder or Addiction
When you have made the decision to get quality help for mental illness and addiction, we are here to help. A health professional can find the integrated treatment help that will offer you solutions to treat both your mental health issues and your addiction. They will find workable solutions that meet your needs and will provide you with an understanding of the correlation between addiction, stress and bipolar disorder. They can help you find the recovery resources you need while coming up with a plan of action for openly and honestly discussing addiction and manic depression with your teenager.