By Jane Elliott Health reporter, BBC News

Clare pictured at a Halloween party

Clare Crestaini is proud of her children and Bella and Dominic are proud of her.

"They say I am a funky, non fussy mum' and to 44-year-old Clare, from Bath this is no mean endorsement.

Clare is bipolar and for years she worried about what effect her diagnosis and behaviour might be having on her children.

"I got post-natal depression after my second child was born and that developed into a psychotic episode, then I had manic depression.

Learning trigger control

"It is difficult enough being a parent, but with manic depression it's hard.

"As a mother you want to be perfect and you are going to fail as you can't be perfect all the time, but as a manic depressive that leads to problems.

My self confidence increased as I realised what was important instead of trying to live up to this fantasy idea of what a perfect mother was Clare Crestaini

"I have seen it affect children's confidence and self esteem it can have very detrimental effects."

Clare was fortunate enough to get on an MDF - the Bipolar Organisation self management course, when her children now 10 and 12 were younger, that taught her about the triggers of her condition and encouraged her to learn to have realistic expectations about parenthood.

The course has had good results with depressed mothers

"My self confidence increased as I realised what was important instead of trying to live up to this fantasy idea of what a perfect mother was.

"I think they have been taught a lot by having me as a mother, they have tolerance compassion, honesty and understanding.

"It was not a secret we would talk about it. and if something in my behaviour frightened them I would explain it."

Parenting course

Now the University of Manchester's School of Psychological Sciences is offering a study to see the effects of parenting courses on parents like Clare.

Based on the popular Triple P - Positive Parenting Programme, developed by Australian clinical psychologist Professor Matt Sanders it helps rebuild relationships between parent and child with positive goals such as tackling discipline, setting rules and limits.

And organisers Dr Steven Jones and Dr Rachel Calam hope their online version aimed specifically at bipolar parents will encourage those reluctant to seek help to come forward.

"There are some who are worried that by seeking help this will bring in social services, but their details will only be known to our researchers," said Dr Jones.

We hope that this system will prove to be a beneficial, efficient way of delivering help to parents with bipolar disorder and their families, and services can adopt it with little cost to them Dr Steven Jones

Initially the programme is recruiting 60 parents, but if the data is encouraging they will roll it out to 150 more and then hope to make the course as widely available as possible.

"One percent of the population has a diagnosis of bipolar, but there are about five to six per cent on the spectrum, so potential there are a lot of parents who might be interested in this course."

Special challenges

Those taking part will be asked to complete a questionnaire looking at their family background and how their mood swings affect family life.

Then some of the group will get the course, which will involve online tips and videos about positive parenting such as rewarding good behaviour.

Then after the first group have completed the 10 week course it will be offered to the rest.

Dr Jones said this sort of course could be invaluable to a parent with bipolar, who have additional stresses to other parents to deal with.

"Parents with bipolar disorder face many challenges in bringing up their children with key facets of the disorder, such as instability of mood and behaviour, impulsivity and anger problems, likely to lead to parenting difficulties.

"This study is a great opportunity for these parents and their children. Triple P is a very good, sound programme that has helped many families. Professor Sanders has used this with depressed mothers and had good results."

He said that there were a great many people needing help and too few experts and that if it proves successful this course could help bridge the gap.

"We hope that this system will prove to be a beneficial, efficient way of delivering help to parents with bipolar disorder and their families, and services can adopt it with little cost to them.

At the same time there are a very small number of clinical psychologists so face-to-face therapy is expensive and difficult to get. But this study could lead to, say, a Manchester intervention from London."