I've been going through this myself with my BP girlfriend and it's been quite the rollercoaster.

She went through an episode 6 weeks ago now and asked for 'a break' and 'space'. Having always done - and having done more research re bipolar - I gave her this time. She admitted she hadn't seen her pdoc in 6 months and I tried to suggest it was time to make an appointment.

A week later she called me to see how I was doing and we had a good chat. She admitted she still hadn't seen her pdoc.

I rang her a week later again and again, and during our conversation I asked if she had seen her pdoc - she said no and later sent me an email accusing me of turning the conversation back on her bipolar. She was annoyed with me and admitted she knew she had patterns of breaking up and didn't know why she did this and said she had to 'go away and think about things'. I probably should have been more careful and I apologised if I offended her.

2 weeks passed and she called out of the blue and wanted to let me know she was seeing her pdoc again. I told her this was great and expressed my support for her. She later sent me a text and finished it with a kiss.

Finally - we ran in to each other last week. I was just happy to wave and keep on walking however she ran after me and wanted to say hello. We had a nice light chat and she asked if I wanted to catch up for a coffee next week. Which surprised me greatly!

Is this her opening up to me more? Has this 'space' been on benefit? I still worry about her when we're not in contact and I have been in a huge amount of pain - but as I know she is suffering more - and there is no way I can walk away from her.

Any help much appreciated,

Kind regards, Nick