Dating Someone Who is Bipolar

Many moons after I posted it, one of my earlier posts on dating someone who is bipolar is still a phenomenally popular choice for people who are, I imagine, heartbroken, worried, and desperate.

Here's my advice on dating someone who is bipolar: just don't do it. Run fast, run far, and don't ever look back.

I say this because I dated someone who swore up and down that she was bipolar, and whether or not she really was is, for the purpose of this advice, irrelevant. She was assuredly deranged in some convoluted manner, and whether you want to call it "bipolar disorder" or call it what it really was makes no difference to the experiential advice that I must offer to those who are making the mistake of their lives.

Just don't do it. If you are beginning to recognize the signs that your girl is straight up nuts, pack your bags (or preferably have her pack her own) and get the hell out of dodge. Dan Savage calls this maneuver DTMFA, and you should do it without hesitation. Being miserable about how "oh, you're so alone" and "oh, you thought you could make it work" is infinitely preferable to being miserable right next to this great person as she destroys herself along with your own sense of joy and well-being. Unless you're some sort of pet rapist or, worse, Harry Potter cosplaying RPG douchebag, you deserve better than a fate such as this.

Run fast, run far, and don't ever look back. Dating someone with any kind of mental defect is a recipe for woe the likes of which you will wish you'd never seen. Approach your exit from a toxic relationship as a Lot's wife situation. If you dare to look back even once, you're done for.

Up next? Why I still get hits from Chicago, Googling for my blog and the word "douchebag".