<prompt> Human: Hello personalfinance! Thank you, as always, for the invaluable service you provide the Reddit community.For at least the last ten years, I have carried a dual diagnosis of depression and anxiety. For years, I believed those issues were what caused all of the uneasiness and mental turmoil in my mind all the time. Things like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia never occurred to me because those are serious issues and I did not think mine were.For as long as I can remember, I have also been awful with money and financial planning. I have never had a savings account with more than 100 in it. When I improved my credit enough to qualify for credit cards, I immediately took out six of them and proceeded to nearly max out any of them with a 0 introductory interest rate. I purchased new kitchen appliances and tile flooring in credit knowing I probably could not afford it. I bought a brand new car in 2015 STILL kicking myself every day for that one which I pay 470 a month for. I buy things almost every single day because once I become fixated on something I need, my brain cannot let it go.My therapist informed me that compulsive spending is a hallmark trait of bipolar disorder; when I am manic I buy because Im having fun and when Im depressed I buy for the instant gratification to cheer myself up.Obviously the main goal for me now is getting my therapeutic and medication regimen straightened out. However, my therapist of course warned me that could take months. In the meantime, I am desperate for tips, tricks, and techniques to help me curb my compulsive spending, combat the overwhelming desire for instant gratification, and get some control over my life.Thanks so much, guys.Edit: I was on mobile and apparently accidentally flaired my post as Insurance the first time around. Oops!Second: I am blown away by all of the responses already. I thought I would be lucky if I got maybe one or two responses after a few days. Thank you all so much. I will respond individually with questions or accolades as time permits. Also, I want to recognize this community for their health-friendly approach as I havent seen a single poster say anything negative about my mental illness which is so helpful in a time like this when I am struggling to accept it.Assistant: This is more than a matter of willpower. You have a condition that messes with your rational thought processes, so you need to take logic and reason out of your safeguards. You need some sort of gatekeeper, or multiple roadblocks that will prevent you from being able to overspend in your manic phase. Cancel your credit cards. Put a freeze on your credit with a password that you dont know get a close friend or family member to give it which prevents you from opening new ones. Get your bills and stuff on autopay out of whatever account you get funds deposited to and automatically deduct whatever you need to save each month into an account that you cant access online. A lot of this stuff will be tough to do on your own. I would also talk to your doctor or therapist and ask them for advice. Human: I hesitated to write anything about this in the original post because I dont want to stray into rrelationships territory, but one of the things Im dreading the most is coming clean with my partner whom I live with about how bad things have really gotten. I think he suspects that Ive been irresponsible with money, but we have our own bank accounts and credit cards so he isnt able to actually monitor my spending and over the last year or so Ive started to actively hide new purchases from him. It is probably time to come clean and give him total control over everything because he is much, much, much more frugal and responsible than I. I should note that we have been together for 11 years, so this isnt some random guy Ive been with for six weeks whom Im going to give my financial life over to.Seeing clearly through my impulses during manic phases is definitely the most difficult part of all this. I end up feeling so good, so indestructible and untouchable that I feel like I can do anything and everything I want without any consequences. Dealing with the fallout that comes from manic me is basically an exhausting, full-time job.  <response>: The enemy of addiction is honesty. Secrets feed our powerlessness. Other people make us stronger. I know what Im saying isnt much comfort to the dread youre facing, but its 10 times harder to attempt this on your own. Youve been together for a long time. He might be disappointed and even angry but I think hell be relieved to have it out in the open and happy to support you. Dont swing so far in the other direction that you basically give him all the financial control and responsibility, but the scale of what we can accomplish with more people is exponential rather than linear. It will get better. 