Hi Chimpgirl,
Thanks for that post. My youngest sibling is going thru a bad time right now as well with similar with similar results. We (myself and brother #2) have had him move in with us last month in an attempt to finally diagnose his conditions (s) and get some psychiatric and medical help in a controlled environment. I feel he's a bipolar depressive as well from everything I've read.
My parents (still JW's) have a hard time "dealing" with this one (though they did ty professional help when he was a child.) since these conditions are not "talked about" in the halls (and because of their backgrounds - working class families both) and kept sending him forth after each time he "crashed and burned" to the point were its become a cycle. We're a little perturbed but we acknowledge that they're still a cut above their respective parents in the performance department.
Anything you might want to share about your experiences would be helpful (things you would recommend, things you'd avoid, etc...) and I appreciate your candour a lot. Unfortunately, Most days are these incredible patience trials (we try to keep our hands in our pockets so that we don't throttle him to death but its damned hard (and we're not mean guys!) and I fear I'll be headed for the "nuthouse" by the time he's cured/manafging! But, I guess that's just our Irish blood talking and we should try to get the better of it.
Appreciatively,
W.