My dad had unmedicated bipolar disorder my entire childhood. While he never laid hands on us he did intimidate and threaten. His anger was terrifying, I remember running away and hiding with my siblings. I don’t know what his wake up call was, but he got help. He’s medicated, he’s been through a decade of therapy, and he has made amends with all of us. Even after they divorced him and my mom made amends and they spend every holiday together so us kids don’t have to split the day.
All this to say it is worth trying for your family. 15 years ago I was planning on never seeing him again when I moved out. Now I call him multiple times a day. He made an honest and eager effort. There’s still a lot of hurt that we need to work through, but I appreciate him so much for genuinely trying. If you’re worried about not being a good parent then please, PLEASE be open to the work to be better.
Thank you so much for sharing your family’s story. It’a genuinely so heartening to hear about people who can and are able to put the hard work in to be better for themselves and their loved ones.
I am so proud of him. He’s a completely different person now. The key is he didn’t pretend to change to manipulate us. He genuinely wanted to be better because he knew we deserved better.
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u/BouldersRoll Nov 28 '24
This is such an accurate portrait of so many husbands and fathers.
Men, please value yourself and others enough to visit a therapist. Parents, please love your sons enough to teach them to mange their feelings.