Bipolar is making me bipolar

My brother has Bipolar, and he is now 21. Before he would yell at me all the time, say so many mean things that I became suicidal. Now he's been getting electric shock treatment and acts a lot better, but refuses to work, and is only taking one class at a community college. So be it.

But while I try to focus on school, I get these traumatizing thoughts of everything he has done to me and my family, the domestic violence, and it reappears in my brain when I am trying to focus on school. Every time i'm home, he orders my dad to do this to do that, for ex, he makes my parents do his laundry, give him massages every night, get him everything like he is a paraplegic, and he seems to not even be thankful.

When he talks, he talks a lot and gets mad if you don't listen. I'm afraid to say something to him cause he will use his condition as an excuse, and I will probably get yelled at, and I have enough responsibilities of my own that I can't break down. After all these years of bitting my tounge, I am being eaten alive.

What is there to do? I have insomnia too, and everything combined just sucks.

This sucks. However, bipolar isn't contagious . It sounds like your brothee's behavior has set off some dysfunction, which is very common. I have a brother who is 33, jobless and living at my parents house. He has repeatedly verbally and physically abused multiple members of the family, yet still gets "special treatment" from my parents. I am 35 and this can make me angry and jealous still. As a Mom, though, I realize the situation is difficult and frightening for my parents as well. And they really have no idea what to do. No one does. To be clear, my brother has not been diagnosed as BP. I personally think it's a personality disorder.

Anyway, my suggestions for you would be to see a counselor - mine has helped me deal with this situation many times over the years - and check out DBSA where relatives of depressed and bi-polar individuals are welcome to join the weekly meetings, share their struggles, get some understanding and feedback.

One more thing, this brother I speak of has a twin brother. Brother 1 has been bullying and beating me and brother 2 down ALL our lives. This is abuse and recognizing it has done me a world of good. It took me until I was in my 30's and him physically assaulting me to recognize it as abuse and realize it has always been there. If you feel this might be your case, a counselor is a must.

Sending a hug.

You could be dealing with PTSD from your brother's treatment of you. I would suggest talking to a counselor to help you with your feelings. What you describe sounds a lot like flash backs of trauma.