Met my biological father when I was 21. He was bipolar and an alcoholic. His mother (my grandmother) and brother (uncle) were both mentally ill, but he did not specify BP. My bio uncle suffered all of his life and eventually killed himself. Thirty years later, I discovered that this bio dad of mine, with whom I had severed all relations, had fathered another son out of wedlock -- my half-brother. I met this half-brother two or three times, and learned that two of his four children (my bio niece and nephew) were bipolar, one to the point of hospitalization. As for myself, one of my three adult daughters is diagnosed BP, but does not take any treatment for it. I guess you could say that it runs in the family.