At same time, not all lies are harmless -- even little white ones -- and some untruths can tear apart a relationship by damaging intimacy and trust. The worst kinds of lies result from trying to change who we really are or to minimize a serious problem in a relationship.

Following are some lies that can hurt your relationship.

"You deserved that promotion." Your significant other is upset because he has just been passed over for a raise -- again. You're trying to cheer him up. This is not a good lie because chances are that your partner wants your emotional support rather than your opinion of his job skills and performance. When you focus on his not getting promotion instead of his feelings, you are saying that can't stand to see him down or deal with him being depressed. The better answer would be something like "I'm sorry. I know how bad you must feel."

"You think I was flirting with Stan! Don't be silly!"

Stan a good-looking colleague with whom you regularly do flirt. Your partner happened to catch one of these interactions - and didn't like what he saw.

You actually do flirt with Bob, but you know your exchanges don't mean anything, so they're not worth discussing. Still, if your partner brought this up, he must be feeling jealous or insecure. By minimizing feelings, you are distancing yourself and damaging relationship. It’s better to say that you sometimes do flirt with Stan but it doesn’t mean anything because you have no intention of getting involved with him.

Lying about sexual satisfaction is not a good idea because your love life will never improve if your partner doesn’t know he or she isn’t satisfying you. It’s better to say something like "Honey, can we try this another way?"

Some of most creative, successful people in world’s history are bipolar. (one small list of such people can be found at: http://www.bipolarsurvivor.com/famous.html) There have been rulers of countries with it, artists, authors, astronauts, musicians, ball players, financiers. The goal of parenting is to help assist our children to learn coping skill that they will need to be successful at their level in world around them as adults. Your child may choose to be next Nobel Prize winner, Secretary General of United Nations, or they actually may just have similar goals on an equally grand scale.

Keep in mind that adults, who are clinically required medicine to help curb mania, often go off their meds because they enjoy added energy and creativity. They like feeling euphoria, accomplishment, and a higher sense of capability and esteem. Yet un-channeled, that high energy can run rampant, and create a wake of problems left behind them which will increase slower, depression side of mood cycle.

When our children are young, we can take time to help them identify these moods and teach them subtly-- some ways to harness that energy, and utilize it in appropriate ways that still align with their desires. The following suggestions are modifications from book The Ups and Downs of Raising a Bipolar Child by Judith Lederman and Candida Fink, M.D. These suggestions work well in state where creativity & thinking out of box is identifiable. This is not intended to treat other phases of mania such as rage, or extreme irritability & negativity.