Are You a Child of Bipolar?

When you were a child, did you:

• Experience inconsistent discipline? Was it okay to do something one day and then be punished for doing that same thing another day?
• Have a parent who started major projects only to abandon them after becoming depressed? Did your parent have high-energy times followed by days where they couldn’t get out of bed?
• See your parent sit in a trance-like state for hours at a time?
• Wonder what kind of mood your parent would be in when you came home?
• Hear or witness your parents fighting about spending sprees?
• Feel that you were on your own to take care of your physical or emotional needs?
• Have difficulty getting your parent’s attention?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, your parent may be displaying symptoms of bipolar disorder. "My Mother’s Bipolar, So What Am I?" provides additional information about the mysterious condition and the impact it has on children raised by a bipolar parent.

Angela Grett is working to establish support groups around the world. If you are interested in exploring the challenges you have faced in a safe environment, please go to the Contact page of this site and send Angela your contact information.

Welcome to Children of Bipolar — a site created for those of us who grew up with a bipolar parent. My name is Angela Grett and I am the child of a bipolar mother. While conducting research for my latest book entitled “My Mother’s Bipolar, So What Am I?” I interviewed several people whose mother or father was bipolar. Even though we all had our own unique experiences, I saw definite similarities in the impact that our parents’ behavior had on us.

I wrote the book and created this web site to help others who faced some of the same adult challenges that I faced. Because most of the focus is on the bipolar patient, there is little information available to help the people who endured the chaos, the emotional abandonment, inconsistent discipline and other difficult experiences that accompanied being raised by a bipolar parent. Of course, those experiences shaped us and resulted in challenges for us as adults.

The intent of this site is to provide our visitors with a central place for support and empathy. You are not alone in your journey. Together we can help one another – by sharing our experiences and coping mechanisms we may have developed along the way. So, visit the site often and see what’s new from Children of Bipolar.

Sincerely,
Angela Grett, CBP (Child of a Bipolar Parent)

My Mother's Bipolar, So What Am I?

When my mother was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, my response was shock and confusion. What did it mean to be bipolar? How would it affect my mother and my family? I became frustrated with Mom because I didn’t understand the disease or her behavior, and I believed that she could be normal if she just tried harder.

The diagnosis of bipolar disorder weighs heavily on those millions of Americans who suffer from the illness. But what about their families? More specifically, what about the children whose parents were undiagnosed or untreated? My Mother's Bipolar, So What Am I? reveals the emotional, physical and mental toll this complicated disease takes on the children. The book sheds light on common experiences, as well as coping mechanisms, to help adult children begin to heal through understanding and perhaps find a reason to be hopeful.

Read The Book Introduction

online or call 1-800-891-7323 toll free to order.

My Mother’s Bipolar, So What Am I?, which was released in 2006, reveals the emotional, physical and mental toll this complicated disease takes on the children of bipolar parents. The book features heartfelt stories from adults who grew up in a bipolar household, common challenges borne out of their childhood experiences, concrete medical information for healing, compassionate advice for coping, and research that provides hope for a better future.

The book begins with Grett’s own experiences. She vividly remembers that terrible day when her father drove her away from her childhood home in Texas, leaving a manic-stricken mother behind. Although the physical separation from her mother only lasted one week, it was an emotional exclamation point in a series of episodes that boxed her into a world of fear and doubt.