Casual friends with bipolar disorder, yes, but no close ones. Some family members also have bipolar disorder.

I have a friend I met at an IOP and occasionally see at AA, often see at the grocery store, and sometimes we sit together at a local cafe (if we run into each other). He works as a cashier at the grocery store. I always talk to him and always get a hug. We obviously know a lot about each other.

A lady at AA, who was once my sponsor, also has bipolar disorder. I now only see her at AA on the rare occasions I go.

When I regularly went to DBSA meetings, I developed casual friendships with a couple women who had bipolar disorder. I went out to lunch a few times with one and met the other for a walk. Those friendships ended because of sickness and losing touch.

Once I developed a friendship with a woman with bipolar disorder that I met at the hospital. That was a disaster and a good reason NOT to make friends with people during crisis. She was borrowing and not returning clothes. She then went to the IOP with me. I was still slightly manic, too. She said something crazy and totally false about my husband to her husband. I was so furious that I yelled at her to such a degree (and sort of threatened her) that I scared her away from the IOP. Yes, she quit! Honestly, when I'm in manic rages, I can get scary. I have almost never threatened people, but the lie she told her husband made me feel my husband was at risk. Yes, she was ill, too. I did tell our IOP therapist about it.

Bipolar disorder in my family? Definitely me, my sister, my youngest nephew, a first cousin on dad's side, my paternal grandmother, a second cousin once removed on my mom's side, and probably my father. Two of my paternal uncles and my maternal grandmother had/have some mental health issues, but I never heard bipolar disorder -- only depression or "nervous breakdown".