The healthy spouse dreams of cutting bait/jumping ship, but is filled with guilt and shame for "not being able to make it work." Worse, spouse feels overwhelmed, and in psychic pain. What's answer -- leave relationship, or dig in for long haul, no matter what? Again, this is one of those entirely personal decisions.

But who takes care of caretaker? For a brief article on what it means to be codependent in one writer's view, go to: http://www.mentalhelp.net/psyhelp/chap8/chap8g.htm Beacon of Hope offers help for partners of mentally ill: http://www.lightship.org/resource.htm/index.htm The National Alliance for Mentally Ill lists resources, at http://www.nami/org/ And for personal recovery stories of those suffering from depression or bipolar disorder, go to: http://www.chinspirations.com/mhsourcepage.storybook.html

If you find yourself in caretaker role for a person with a mental illness whose condition seems to be steadily deteriorating and you're at a loss about what to do next, it's likely that at some point you will need counseling for yourself. At very least, it may help you to understand what lies ahead, and to sort through your own options.

The higher you go, it's less about what you know, and more about your ability to manage relationships and change. According to Center for Creative Leadership, careers derail due to: failure to see big picture, micro-management, lack of trust, poor team building skills, lack of accountability and need to be controlling--all correlated to EQ. The same problems that show up at work are often those that show up in our personal life as well. But EQ can be learned, and profound change comes when we ourselves change.