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‘So, You Know I Have Bipolar?’ – the Perils of Dating With a Mental Health Problem
Guardian ^ | 2/27 | Emily Reynolds

Posted on 02/27/2017 10:54:59 PM PST by nickcarraway

Dating is a tricky business at the best of times, but even more so if you have a history of mental illness. Here are some dos and don’ts …

Dating is hard. It’s paved with heartache and unrequited crushes and the blurting out of gabbled nonsense in front of the unimpressed person you like. When I finally found myself in a conversation with someone I liked at work, whose head I had resolutely stared at the back of for a full three months, I answered an innocuous, “So, how’s your day going?” with, “I am awash with existential despair.” She stared, confused and unblinking, back into my face. I then followed it up with a tiny, pathetic, “Woo!” She sat down again. I continued to stare at the back of her head from my desk, in the full knowledge that she would never speak to me again. This isn’t just me, right? This is how it is for everyone. This is what it’s like to date. It’s awkward.

But what is it like when, in addition to your inability to say anything remotely funny or interesting to the person you are into, you have a mental health problem as well? How does that affect the way you interact with them? How does it affect a relationship once you are actually in one? And, more pressingly: how do you even tell someone you are, or have been, ill? At what point during the dating process is it appropriate to bring up mental health?

The pressure of not knowing when or how to reveal your mental health status can be an additional and very valid source of anxiety. If you tell them too soon it can feel like you are setting the stakes too high; but if you leave it too long you

(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...


TOPICS: Health/Medicine; Miscellaneous
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To: T-Bone Texan

LMAO.


61 posted on 02/28/2017 7:03:14 AM PST by TADSLOS (Reset Underway!)
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I hate being bi-polar.
It’s AWSOME!


62 posted on 02/28/2017 7:08:07 AM PST by Ronald_Magnus
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To: RegulatorCountry

Yeh, before dusting the guy I found out he had tried to kill himself 3 times then I happened to look in his medicine cabinet one day for an aspirin and saw a gigantic container of Lithium. It was full so I figured he had stopped taking it. At some point you have to ask yourself how upset would you be if you never saw this person again.


63 posted on 02/28/2017 7:19:04 AM PST by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
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To: Georgia Girl 2

What did you dust him with? DDT, flea powder, baby powder?


64 posted on 02/28/2017 7:21:34 AM PST by sport
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To: lee martell

One of my good friends is bi-polar. She is one of the few people that I dated that was physically abusive to me. She’s practically a zombie now but easier to be around.

Occasionally she will say something to me that people would find inappropriate but I just blow it off. The filter is gone.
Of course, she has no idea why we stopped dating.


65 posted on 02/28/2017 7:25:44 AM PST by AppyPappy (Don't mistake your dorm political discussions with the desires of the nation)
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To: Ciaphas Cain

Never let the phrase “God allows” leaves your lips. It implies God is passive-aggressive.
Satan is the ruler of this world.


66 posted on 02/28/2017 7:29:04 AM PST by AppyPappy (Don't mistake your dorm political discussions with the desires of the nation)
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To: thoughtomator; Vendome

I’ll be the judge of that...Pictures or I’m calling BS! ;P


67 posted on 02/28/2017 7:29:11 AM PST by To Hell With Poverty (Refreshing? Trump makes me feel like I just freebased a York Peppermint Pattie!)
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To: Lazamataz

“I know where I stand now, so I no longer even try.”

Laz! Say it ain’t so! I have no heroes left...(sniff).


68 posted on 02/28/2017 7:29:50 AM PST by elcid1970 ("The Second Amendment is more important than Islam. Buy ammo.")
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To: Lazamataz

Snicker! :-)


69 posted on 02/28/2017 7:31:09 AM PST by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
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To: Jim Noble

A friend of mine told me years ago. go to his house after you know him, excuse yourself and go to bathroom and look through medicine cabinet and on your way back, look in bedroom for scripts.


70 posted on 02/28/2017 7:42:01 AM PST by Chickensoup (Leftists today are speaking as if they plan to commence to commit genocide against conservatives.)
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To: elcid1970

I haven’t gotten it since Sputnik.


71 posted on 02/28/2017 7:46:14 AM PST by Lazamataz (The "news" networks and papers are bitter, dangerous enemies of the American people.)
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To: Chickensoup
A friend of mine told me years ago. go to his house after you know him, excuse yourself and go to bathroom and look through medicine cabinet and on your way back, look in bedroom for scripts.

Or, conversely, you could just be honest and ask. Are you afraid he wouldn't be honest with you? That's ironic behavior if so.

72 posted on 02/28/2017 7:50:34 AM PST by RegulatorCountry
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To: T-Bone Texan

She appeared very normal:
grounded, and not a loon
the only yellow flag was when gouged
my eye out with a spoon.


73 posted on 02/28/2017 8:16:54 AM PST by T-Bone Texan
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To: Mr. K

867-5309


74 posted on 02/28/2017 8:35:54 AM PST by Vendome (I've Gotta Be Me - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH-pk2vZG2M)
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To: Lazamataz

75 posted on 02/28/2017 8:42:44 AM PST by Vendome (I've Gotta Be Me - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH-pk2vZG2M)
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To: nickcarraway

Maybe it’s a good thing not to pass the genes.


76 posted on 02/28/2017 8:46:29 AM PST by Blue Collar Christian (We Arizonans need to get rid of McCain as all of us pray for Trump.)
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To: Jim Noble
I just gave my son the link to Chateau Heartiste and a pack of smokes.

OK, obviously no smokes but the link, for sure.

77 posted on 02/28/2017 8:58:09 AM PST by riri (Obama's Amerika--Not a fun place.)
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To: To Hell With Poverty; thoughtomator

If I were on one of those picture sharing sites or a social site, I would just upload a pic.

My favorite pic is where I’m standing on Ellis Island, I strike a pose like you would see in Macy’s men.

Here’s the best part: Not only do I look great but, the Twin Towers loom perfectly behind me.

Probably three or four Freepers have seen that picture.


78 posted on 02/28/2017 9:16:35 AM PST by Vendome (I've Gotta Be Me - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH-pk2vZG2M)
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To: RegulatorCountry; Chickensoup
Or, conversely, you could just be honest and ask. Are you afraid he wouldn't be honest with you? That's ironic behavior if so.

Even Ronald Reagan said, "Trust, but verify."

Around home, we say, "You trust your mother, but you cut the cards."

79 posted on 02/28/2017 11:22:17 AM PST by Albion Wilde ("We will be one people, under one God, saluting one American flag." --Donald Trump)
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