loneliness and bipolar

[louie52]

Is it common to be lonely or isolated from people with bipolar.

[ILADVOCATE]

Yes and when I was depressed in the past I did experience that and one good way around that was to force myself to go out and get involved in something. It kind of "cheated" the mechanism of feeling depressed and I ended up enjoying myself. As for how I related to people that was another story. It did take a while to learn how to socially engage people. When I was manic before recovery I could be around a lot of people but I couldn't pick up how to respond back appropriately and would alienate people. Right now in being in the recovery process for a physical disability I just hooked up the TTY I applied for and it will be good to be in touch with people. I did have problems years ago with large social events but after a while it was more a matter of learning the difference between not being a "conformist" (as I thought then) and appropriate social behavior and keeping the two balanced.

[Alex_X_18]

I feel lonely too cuz I have lost firneds becuae of my bipolaar and I feel it shelters me from making new friends at the same time. People meet me in a certain mindset and they assume thats what I'm like all the time...........sometimes I'm not always outgoing when it comes to meeting new folks I just shy up when it comes to being in a group......I meet people when I'm kinda manic sometimes and they think I'm really confident which isn't true either

[cdesvign]

I have always felt lonely.  even as a young child.  I am out going but the strange thing for me is that I welcome being alone.  it helps me handle the world in general.  I don't want to not have friends, I just want my space.  I don't have to use so much energy when I am alone and it is quiet.  though I still feel that I am lonely and should work hard to keep the difference between being alone and loneliness.  I hope you realize you really aren't alone with your feelings...  

[HoneyNut]

Hi louie52,

I can say that it seems to be a common issue for me.  It seems that I am unable to really "click" with people, and relate with them.  I have been told at times I say things that aren't really related to the topic at hand or don't really make sense... which makes it hard to not be lonely.... It is also difficult, because I am not always the "lively" person I can be with a group of people.

It's hard... but you aren't truly alone with these feelings of loneliness.

~* HoneyNut

[hell1971]

Since my last recent episode I have felt lonley yet surrounded by people, I have the same friends and my family, I have not lost anyone due to my illness but I do feel like somethings not quite right anymore, like I am out of sinc with them and I do feel incredibly lonely yet they are all here, I dont know how to correct it.

[PinkTZ]

I can imagine yeah...that you dont understand what's going on in the person's mind...i had lots of friends who were scared of my new change in personality and ditched me. So yeah, being scared, lonely, isolated...sounds about right.

Its like, the person you once knew isnt there anymore eh?

JP