I do not know why this is a topic on free republic, but having experienced someone who was bi-polar for a long time, I feel for you and your story.
Thank you. I’m sorry to hear that bipolar was so difficult on your family. It caused much distress for my family, but my parents and siblings are incredible. somehow, we kept it together and are still very close. I would never deny the pain and suffering of bipolar disorder. But neither can I deny my experience of being abundantly blessed in it. I know that in ALL things God works for my good. (Romans 8:28)I know because He has done it in the midst of bipolar disorder.
Bi-polar is not always simply inherited — it is predatory. Some people drag it to themselves by unresolved moral confusions. Within the latency for it, there are strengths — but once the body’s chemistry is into it — it is no blessing. It is a difficulty, a sickness.
While at a deep level EVERYTHING is a special unique blessing, at everyday levels, and even ones not-so-everyday, there is no blessing in it.
What this means is it something a person MUST deal with, or those around him deal with. Likely you know this, having been through it.
James Otis — a man whose Mass. Bill of Rights contributed to ours today, was bipolar. In his manic phase it took a whole village to settle him down — they locked him in a garret until the mania went away and he became socially fit.
Bi-polar is not a blessing.
A man who claims to a place of argument like FR to declare he has conquered his bi-polar is likely swinging into mania. For in the mania the manic seek the rush of challenge. JMO.
And for the record I have known more than one bi-polar person, I know there are different levels, not all swing into high mania. Some linger in depression, some have a long cycle, some short.
In all cases quietude is a healthy treatment. FR is many things. But it is NOT a place of quietude.