My point is that when a bipolar person sees themselves begin to engage in a destructive (to them or to others) behavior, the have the choice to continue or to do something to avoid the behavior.

If they are being verbally abusive (or worse) with a family member, they can choose to remove themselves from the situation. It may not be easy, but I think most of us would admit that we know when we are engaging in destructive behavior, and can make a choice to stop, however difficult.

Note that I am not talking about the times when we are so depressed we can't move, or so manic that we border on delusional...

Also, our families have to learn to respect those times when we need to get away for a while...that getting in our face about it only makes it worse.

DJ