127. Getting Sober is Hard. Bipolar Disorder Makes it Harder. (Collaboration with Dr. Casey & Addiction Medicine Made Easy Podcast)127. Getting Sober is Hard. Bipolar Disorder Makes it Harder. (Collaboration with Dr. Casey & Addiction Medicine Made Easy Podcast)
Together S.O.B.E.R.
Louise Barnett talks with Dr. Casey Grover about life with bipolar I disorder, addiction and sobriety, from teenage self-harm and cocaine use to blackout drinking and single motherhood. Their conversation looks at diagnosis, stigma, parenting and the practical pillars Louise uses today to stay stable and alcohol-free.
42:53•3 Aug 2026
Bipolar, Blackouts and Breaking the Mask: Louise Barnett on Sobriety and Stability
Episode Overview
- Diagnosis can shift the internal question from "What is wrong with me?" to "What do I need?", opening the door to more helpful support.
- Alcohol and drugs may start as a way to numb or belong, but often become woven into both manic highs and depressive lows.
- Stability for bipolar disorder can rest on six key pillars: medication, therapy, lifestyle, sobriety, nervous system regulation and emotional regulation.
- Looking high-functioning on the outside can hide severe suffering, blackout drinking and nightly emotional collapse behind closed doors.
- Sharing honest stories, even in small, private ways, can chip away at shame and help build a sense of safety and connection.
“My biggest mantra is to create survival guides from our collective stories.”
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? This conversation between Louise Barnett and Dr. Casey Grover digs into what happens when alcohol addiction and bipolar I disorder collide, and why getting sober can feel like climbing a mountain with extra weight on your back. Louise, author of *Tainted Love: A Bipolar Memoir* and host of *I'm Bipolar.
Now What?*, talks through years of undiagnosed bipolar I, self-harm, anorexia, and using alcohol and drugs as a way to either speed everything up or shut everything down. From chasing cocaine in her twenties to drinking “two, three bottles of wine a night, blacking out every night,” she explains how substances were never about fun: they were about numbing pain and trying to belong.
You’ll hear how a late diagnosis in 2015 finally gave her language for what was happening, shifting her inner question from “What the heck is wrong with me?” to “What do I need?” She shares a powerful turning point with her now-husband, who responded to her disclosure of bipolar with, “Louise, I already know,” and, “You just have to let me inside” – proof that love and diagnosis can sit in the same room.
Louise breaks down the six pillars that keep her steady today: medication, therapy, lifestyle, sobriety, nervous system regulation, and emotional regulation. She’s candid about relapse risks as a parent, the pressure of looking perfectly put together while “the hours that you're not in front of the limelight are the darkest,” and the grief of realising bipolar isn’t going anywhere, even in sobriety.
At the heart of it all is connection: “My biggest mantra is to create survival guides from our collective stories.” If you’re juggling mood swings, addiction, parenting, or just a sense of living behind a mask, this conversation might help you feel a little less alone. What survival guide are you quietly writing with your own story?
Do you want to link to this podcast?
Get the buttons here!
More From This Show
The latest episodes from the same podcast.