delusions

I found out earlier in the week that my girlfriend has bipolar disorder, I realised today that it's much more serious that I had previously thought it was after she had a relapse and was admitted to hospital. The problem is that yesterday she said something awful about her father (which caused a lot of trouble), which was untrue. She's not a liar, she just believes so strongly that what she said is true.

My problem is what to do if something like this happens again, am I supposed to be sympathetic and believe (or at least pretend) to believe what she says, or am I supposed to tell her what I really think, which is that she's delusional. I know that the latter will be likely to upset her, and she'll refuse to admit it. The problem is also that in future, how am I supposed to know whether she is telling the truth? I suppose if she is in a manic state, it might be a giveaway, but to be honest; yesterday I didn't even notice that she was in a manic state.

I really don't know anything about bipolar disorder, if anybody can offer any helpful advice or if you have any links to interesting articles etc. I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thanks.

I know that when I'm in a mania stage that I tend to shoot off my mouth more. I don't really lie as that is not in my nature, but I do use bad judgement in what I'm saying and not shutting up before I anger people. Sort of like discussing politics. I have my own views and it always seems that when I'm in a mania stage I have to argue politics with those that are the opposite politictal persuasion. I will go overboard and just make someone I care about upset.

Does your girlfriend realize she is bipolar? If its a new dx then you both need to be educated about the illness. Read the STICKY in this forum. Look up bipolar on the internet. Education is power. I know that once I read everything I could get my hands on it helped me deal with my own illness and recongize when I was about to show symptoms.

There are differant dx of bipolar. The two main ones are Bipolar 1= more mania and Bipolar 2- more depression than mania (over simplified defintion.

Knowledge is Power . the two of you need knowledge so you can have power over the illness instead of the illness having power over you.

Thanks for the reply, I appreciate it. I'm going to try and read as much about bipolar as I can, and hopefully I can convince her to do the same when she's a little better.