Igor Galynker, M.D., Ph.D., Beth Israel Medical Center
Question: What is the impact of bipolar disorder on one's family and friends?
Answer: The family and friends of patients who have bipolar disorder carry a significant burden; it's called the care-giver burden.
And there are two types of burden that they carry. One is the burden that's called subjective burden, and that is caused by the stress that having somebody ill in the family causes in the family and friends.
And the other one is called objective burden because patients with bipolar disorder often do not do that well in life.
They can get depressed, they sometimes skip work, sometimes they squander peoples finances, unfortunately. It's difficult to take care of these people.
So the burden is high and 50-60 percent of family and friends say that it's high.
And it can cause anxiety, depression, financial hardship and other things that your common sense would tell you it would cause.
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