Is my mother bipolar?

and her precious ways of blaming me

Bipolar, that is the question

Well this will be my quest in trying to vent on all of you about my Mother and her ideas of being a good mother and how I get to tears before the conversation is ended……and it is ALWAYS my fault.

April 22, 2007 - Posted by mymomsbipolar | Bi-Polar, Growing up with Mom, Guilt Trips | | 1 Comment

1 Comment »

  1. It sounds more like your mom has what would usually be labeled as borderline personality disorder rather than bipolar disorder. That said,BPD is a label that does not identify the causes of the behavior and often results in the kind of stigmatization by mental health professionals themselves that can prevent the patient from getting appropriate treatment.

    Your mom’s borderline pd-like symptoms could easily overlap with the bipolar symptoms, which is what makes these labels relatively useless. BPD symptoms which tend to overlap with bipolar also overlap tremendously with Complex PTSD. Very often Complex PTSD is labeled as borderline pd. If your mother endured prolonged and chronic stress from abuse and/or neglect at any point in her life,especially during childhood, it is very likely that there is underlying PTSD.

    From what I read here,she’s extremely emotionally volatile on a much more consistent basis than what would be expected in bipolar disorder.She really needs therapy, but it sounds like what she’s doing is working for her in a way. When I say that, I mean her behavior is getting her some of what she wants that she doesn’t know how to get without manipulating you.That doesn’t mean she’s doing it intentionally,it means she repeating what works. Her repeated threats of suicide have you really scared.She knows that too.It’s going to take a bit of assertiveness to not let her play on your emotions that way.You’ve got to take care of yourself and your kids.If your mom is behaving in these ways in front of the kids,
    it may be best that she doesn’t see them unless she can abide by certain boundaries, but you will have to set those.She probably won’t be able to respect those boundaries.

    It’s difficult to grow up with a parent who behaves this way, and often just a difficult to handle their behavior when we become an adult.You’re not going to change her no matter what her diagnosis may be. All you can change is how you respond to her.If you haven’t been in therapy yourself yet, it may help you to learn how to respond to your mom in a more healthy way, for your own well-being and maybe your mom’s too.

    I wish you and your family the best.

    Comment by thememoryartist | July 28, 2007


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