My partner, father of child binge drinks while manic and anxious to slow his thoughts and soothe his symptoms and I originally believed he was alcoholic with depression and anxiety. A few years ago after some major episodes and some serious paranoia I have come to the thinking that his primary deal is bi polar 1 and it leads to the horrible drinking. I had originally thought the mental problems stemmed from out of control drinking and it made me absolutely furious as he could not see the reality of his behaviors. Binge drinking, not eating, not sleeping, poor decisions, rage mania followed by the crash. It's the chicken or the egg debate but I have much more patience with BP being the primary culprit. After this last paranoid episode he agreed to see the doctor and he gave him Respirdal. It's only been I week and I am slow to be hopeful of much of anything with him because he's so stubborn and resistant and has never truly accepted this diagnosis as accurate. So for the first time in years I saw some real insight from him and he was so much more centered and self aware I felt that tinge of hope again that he could thrive again, not just survive. He actually seemed to understand that his tense stormy relationships were caused by mania morphing into binge drinking, leading to the Great Depression. He was connecting the dots! So yesterday I discovered him drunk in the afternoon which he denied (ugh) and found a stash of his beers outside. He's on this Risperdal and it affected him very badly. He slept it off. He's super anxious about taking meds and his body is sensitive to everything. Any advice? The one boundary or rule I have to allow him to stay here (we have a 6 year old) is NO DRINKING which he breaks constantly. This time though he is on Respirdal and it appeared to be working until he pulled this again. I know he can go dry periods of no alcohol. Do you think it's the BP or alcoholism I am combating? Thanks for any insights here. I really would like to stay hopeful but I have to maintain boundaries and he lies when he drinks.

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