Article Figures & Data
Additional Files
The Article in Brief
Bipolar Disorder: A Daughter's Experience
Satya Rashi Kahre
Background This essay describes the author's experience as the daughter of a father with bipolar disorder and the enormous strain his illness placed on their relationship
What This Study Found The author relates her father's destructive cycling of mania, rage and depression, as well as her emotions that resulted from the experience. She explains how her experience led her to understand that mental illness is not a patient illness but rather a family illness--one that requires a whole family approach to treatment. While she was equally affected by her father's mental disorder, she received no treatment from the family physician who saw all the members of her immediate family. Despite numerous routine check-ups, the author's family physician never asked how she was coping with her father's bipolar disorder. Consequently, she managed her feelings in isolation, never truly learned how to effectively cope and struggled with feelings of sadness, confusion, anger and injustice, all of which culminated in intense guilt.
