Q:  Daughter's Symptoms Real or Imagined?

My 25 year old daughter is bipolar with physcotic symtoms.  She is on medication and takes it regularly.  Some days she is fine and other days she can not get out of bed for any reason.  She misses appointments and work.  I know the people she works with gets tired of her not showing up, but we need the money.  How can I tell if this is real or just imagined?

Dear Virginia -- 
I’ve gotten way behind on replies so am opting for now to be "short and sweet" (hopefully, and hopefully still useful):

Since these are well-known symptoms of the condition she has been diagnosed to have, I'd assume until the evidence was overwhelming (like she can get up for friends, partying but not for work, appointments -- repeatedly and consistently) that it's "real".  Imagine how you'd feel if you had an illness you couldn't control but people thought you were faking it -- that can be so devastating, it's worth leaning pretty far in the other direction to make sure you don't make that mistake.  

Dr. Phelps

Published November, 2001