How Do You And Your Partner Deal With Mental Illness In Your Relationship?

Share your story and you may be included in an upcoming BuzzFeed post.

An estimated one in five adults in the U.S. are living with mental illness. And it doesn’t just affect them — their partners are affected too.

Jenny Chang / Via buzzfeed.com

Some couples have found really good ways to manage the stress and uncertainty that mental illness can cause.

Jenny Chang / Via buzzfeed.com

And many people credit their spouses for helping them get through during some of their most difficult periods.

Emma Block / us.vashi.com / Via buzzfeed.com

But that doesn’t always happen overnight — it can take months or even years to figure out how to be a supportive partner, and there can be a lot of really shitty bumps along the way.

Jenny Chang / Via buzzfeed.com

We want to hear from couples where one or both people in the relationship have experienced mental illness.

Alice Monkongolite / Via buzzfeed.com

Tell us the good, the bad, and the ugly… from the diagnosis to how long it's been a part of your lives together, the techniques you've both come up with for managing it, the lowest moments, and the biggest breakthroughs. The more details you share about your relationship (ages, location, how long you've been together) and your experiences, the more likely we are to profile you in a future post.

A couple things to note:

- We'd love if you'd share photos but we can absolutely use pseudonyms/first names only/change identifying details if you prefer.

- While it's totally fine for just one person to reach out to us initially, we will need both members of the couple to share their story for future posts — so please check with your partner before you reach out!

If you’d like to be a part of this, please email your story to [e-mail]!