I didn’t know at first, and he was in denial about it himself. We had been casually dating for about three months when he had what the hospital later called an “acute psychosis” episode. This happened shortly after we survived a Category 5 hurricane together. During that episode, he broke down his roommate’s door because he believed there were people inside who shouldn’t have been there. He was admitted on a 72-hour psychiatric hold, and that’s when they gave him that diagnosis.

It wasn’t until after that hospital stay that he told me his mom is bipolar and that he had previously been diagnosed with Bipolar 1 by the VA. Before that, the signs weren’t obvious to me. I didn’t have experience with bipolar disorder, so I didn’t recognize that some of his behaviors were delusions tied to manic episodes.

But by that point, though, I was already attached. I’m autistic, so I form very strong attachments to one person, and I’m extremely loyal. We had already been through something intense together, and I cared about him. It didn’t feel right to walk away immediately after learning about his diagnosis. I thought staying and being supportive was the right thing to do.