Bipolar disorder-feeling helpless as not sure what to do

Specific disabilities and conditions
1

My brother 24, lives in Mumbai India has been suggested to have bipolar disorder. He is 24 years old and he is living with my parents. My mother and my sister are taking care of him currently and I am supporting them from here in UK.

His problems:

  1. Grandios delusions- he believes he has the ability to invent something so huge that people are tracking his moves
  2. Substance addiction- although now moderate he was addicted to weed, which he has now replaced with cigarettes and alcohol. He believes he is so much in stress that he deserves to have these mood-altering substances
  3. Not sure if this is the result of his condition or just a bad habit- he doesn’t earn yet but has loads of demands which he believes are very considerate. He always has a lits of demands and he knows how to blackmail us when we deny. For instance- asking money for alcohol & cigarettes.
  4. He is completely unaware of his mental health issue- He believes we all are destroying his life by interfering in his life. I am aware of this part of the mental illness- read a bit about anosognosia

My concerns are:

  1. I have read that it would be difficult for him to ever accept that he has a problem and he should take medicines for his whole life. I and my mother/sister are trying to accept that so we don’t keep on educating him and pushing him away. How do we get him to take medicines for some other complimentary reasons? I am guessing if a counselor can help us find a way for that.
  2. I wish someone could train us on how to talk with him virtually- read about reflective listening but not sure how to put them in practice. For instance- I know we should listen to him but not interfere or control him. But if we don’t interfere then he might get addicted to the substance again which will deteriorate his condition and not taking medicines is anyway making this worse
  3. just some suggestions on how to tackle each problem as they all are different but the person is the same

Really keen to join any communities here in UK to learn from so I can then pass on that learning to my family in india.

2

Hi Bijal,

this is good website for information about the condition and also ways to support someone with it. The links to help however, will be only applicable to the UK https://www.mind.org.uk

Melly1

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4

Thanks, Melly1. Will check this link out.
Sometimes these websites are very overwhelming with info so very difficult to get to the right article/information. Any suggestions on that?

5

Thanks sunnydisposition, all of this looks so apt. I am going to check them all out.

6

There are a couple types of bipolar disorder. You qualify as type 1 bipolar if you have one episode of mania, which can consistent in an episode of extreme positive affect, impulsivity, grandiosity, speaking fast, etc. So you don’t need to have depression even (although a huge portion indeed do). Bipolar 2 requires depression as well as one episode of hypomania or a more mild form of mania. For you, it probably depends on how severe your mania felt. Sounds also like “rapid cycling,” another sub-distinction for those who keep alternating between depression and mania rather than having them in episodes.