Purple Tablets Asks... I'm a female of child-bearing age… who has been diagnosed as Bipolar II. The message that the different doctors have given me so far has been "don't get pregnant." (In fact, one offended me so much with how she delivered this message that I cancelled my follow-up appointment and got a new psychiatrist!)

Shelli Asks... My ex refuses to believe that our son is bipolar. He insists that our boy tried to choke his half-sister to death and that our son speaks of his "evil-other side" but he fights with me about giving the boy medication. Could he be so stupid as to think our boy is just mean? Since he is medicated he is a calm and kind teenager. Have you ever heard of one of those? The ex even commented one time that our son was "like a different child" when he was visiting after he started his Seroquel but still refuses to believe the diagnosis. What can I have him read or look at to help with his disbelief?

Syndicated from the Bipolar Blog I grew up in a household with mental illness in a parent. The illness was never fully identified or named, yet it decimated our family life. I was enormously relieved to realize, over time, what was going on in my family when I was growing up. It helped me understand my parent more and to tell my family story in a way that is less judgmental and critical and more compassionate – toward my parent with mental illness and toward me and my siblings and my other parent. As a professional and as someone who lived with this, I feel strongly about the need for honest, open communication in families when a parent is struggling with mental illness.