Expert: Libby Bonner - 10/22/2009

Question
i have bipolar i am 49 years old and for 25 years i have been suffering. also my family is suffering more. i have alot of trouble trying to explain myself every thing i am thinking of never comes out the way i am thinking. i am always told i dont know what i am talking about. i have a big crying emotion and i feel like i am two years old. i owned a business and had it with my husband. i walked a way from it 5 years ago. now i am at home worthless and very unhappy. all i want is to be able to express myself to everyone like a adult not like a crying baby.

Answer
Emily, I would need more information in order to try to help.

Do you see a psychiatrist regularly?  What medicine is currently prescribed for you?  Do you take it regularly?  Do you think it helps you now, or that it used to, but doesn't anymore?  If not helping you now, or if you are not taking your meds now, have you told your psychiatrist this?

If you told your psychiatrist what you wrote me, what would he or she say, or do?  Would they listen and believe you?  Would they maybe make a change in your medicines?  If your doctors don't know of this big problem, then telling them has to happen.

IF you are a person who has trouble making their ideas clear to others when they need to say something, please take the time to write out, for the doctors, some of the ways you feel, and how you would like things to change.

I wonder if the psychiatrist could also arrange for you to see a therapist?  A therapist might be as much help as medicine would, to help you express yourself more successfully.  In fact, they might encourage you to start writing down your thoughts, just for yourself.  Then, as you get better, they might suggest that you write a letter to your husband or family to express the things you need to say.   ----  Perhaps your husband would go with you to your doctor or your therapist from time to time.

It's not clear to me where you live - in your husband's home? Your parents?  Somewhere else?

I'm wondering also if you are American born.  If not, in what country, and how long have you been here?

I am so sorry about your suffering.  Let's see if we can't help things get better.