There's a thin line between not being in denial of the illness and accepting it as part and parcel of oneself. That's where I'm stuck, almost 3 years into my diagnosis. The denial went away when I was labeled bipolar 1, but I'm still falling short of complete acceptance of it even though I'm on serious amounts of medication and have been hospitalized for suicidal ideation.

Bottom line, there is no timeline for acceptance of the illness; it comes to each of us in our own time (I'm presuming, anyway). One of the hallmarks of BP is lack of insight. That may be where your husband it at right now. It's called anosognosia---the sick person doesn't know he's sick.