Is there any substantial evidence that bipolar people are commonly attracted to others that are bipolar?
It seems that arenas like the media are full of the bipolar type and I’m wondering if research has been done on this–whether bipolar relationships are healthy, etc. A. I’m not aware of any credible evidence showing that individuals with bipolar disorder are attracted to others with this disorder. Of course, to study this issue, we would need a more precise term than “attracted to”–perhaps, “married to”, or “in a long term relationship with”. Some studies have shown that individuals with bipolar disorder have somewhat lower marriage rates than those in the general population (51% vs. 58%; see Krauthammer & Klerman, 1979). Most likely, this stems from the interpersonal difficulties created by the illness itself. And there is one study (F. Benazzi, Journal of Affective Disorders Oct 2000) finding higher rates of interpersonal rejection sensitivity in bipolar patients than in unipolars (37.8% vs. 20.5%). This trait, in theory, might predispose bipolar individuals to seek out a certain ki
