Yes, it can also intensify it, depending on their reaction to the substance abused. Some do some do not usually depends on the person. It varies from person to person and the type of bi-polar disorder. Give them their space, do not be too nosey, but keep an eye on them and make sure they do not do anything brash or dangerous. And I would ask him to stop his substance abuse, and get doctors help if he isnt medicated



*hope this helps*

Yes it can....My brother-in-law was diag. As a child. He came to live with us becaus ehis father and the state had had enough of him. We tried to get him help the whole 6 mths he lived with us. Nothing worked. He wanted what he wanted right then as in having control of his own money...Having a job....Having his own place. And didn't want to do any of the work and therapy it takes to get to that point. To top it off he found sumone to smoke pot with and we didn't know...It made him worse than he was....And trust me that was bad enough. At one point his rages were getting so bad he broke my finger when my husband and I had to phy. Remove him from our home so he could go and cool off and get some control. We took him to doc's and I made him take his meds every day at the same time. Finally one day he attcked me because I told him he needed a shower because he stunk to high heaven, that was when we just gave up and sent him to a nursing home. They would give him his meds...And there was no one for him to get pot from. He had a bus that took him to his therp. And his work group. And he waited until my husband had to go away for a mth for training before he was deployed to show his ass big time. He was taken to his session and once there he freaked out of the others in the group. The police were called and they had to mace him 3 times and cuff him to a chair to get him under control. Needless to say he was not going to be allowed back and they sent him to the state mental hosp. I of course was pissed off beyond beleif and told him simply that I was done with him.....You can't help sumone that doesn't want help and isn't willing to do the work it takes to be independant. And he called me twice after that asking for money, I told him to go to hell and I changed our number. My husband was all for it...He had enough too.