Hi. I don't really know why I came to Reddit, but I’m hoping I can get any sort of advice. I’m 16F, and I lived with both of my parents and my siblings. My parents have been happily married for 18 years, but because of the manic episode that my dad had around 6 months ago, all of that came crumbling down in just a few weeks, and I don’t know what to do.
My dad was an amazing person, kind, sweet, and a loving father and husband. My parents built up their lives and had a very stable and healthy marriage. But unknown to my mom, my dad has bipolar disorder, to which he and his parents never told my her about. about a year and a half ago, he had a depressive episode that lasted for a year, and we spent that year taking care of him and trying to support him. He was put on testosterone gel, and that was seemingly “helping him”, as he was quickly getting out of his depression and started to act like his energetic, goofy self again. But we didn’t know at that time that he was slipping into a manic episode. Everything went downhill from there.
In the span of a few weeks, the father that I used to know was gone. He began to act incredibly selfish, self-centered, rude, and began spending money that we didn’t have. My parents marriage became very unstable and stressful, and the way he treated my mom and my siblings was horrible, constantly saying that he wanted to beat and divorce my mom, and that he would only continue to love me and my siblings if we respected him. This behavior escalated to the point were my mom had to file a restraining order on him, to which he broke, and was taken to jail.
He is currently in a mental hospital, and I have not spoken with him ever since he was arrested, due to my mom not being able to contact him because of the restraining order. He and my family are okay as of right now, but I’m terrified for the future. The life that I once had was stripped away from me, and I don’t know how to feel about my dad. He was such an amazing person who would never do anything to hurt anyone, but because of that fucking manic episode, he destroyed his life, currently having no place to go once his time in jail is over, or any source of work or money income. I‘m just heartbroken about all of this. I never thought in a million years that my parents would have to divorce, and I may only be able to see my dad under supervision, because we can no longer trust that he won’t do anything bad to us again. The life that he worked so hard for is gone, and there’s nothing I can do about it.
Sorry for this lengthy story, but I really need help. I just need to know if anything similar has happened to anyone, and if they can offer any advice to me. I don’t know how I can possibly move on, knowing that I won’t have my daddy anymore.
TLDR: My parent’s happy marriage was destroyed in just a few weeks due to my dad’s manic episode, and the life that he built for himself and my family is gone.