Coming out of the Bipolar Closet (as Carrie Fisher put it)
Most of you here already know this, but in the spirit of all of you knowing more about me, and of helping to raise awareness of bipolar and depression, yep, I have bipolar. I don't want to get into a lot of details right now except to say that I don't get mania much, mostly it's depression, and mine is severe enough that I've been on federal disability because of it for about 15 years. In addition to depressed mood, it makes me irritable, not very interested in things I used to love, tired as fuck (having chronic pain from severe arthritis helps with that, too), and not able to concentrate very well. Oh, and have a shitty memory. So other stuff, too. As some of the bipolar awareness groups say, "It's not an excuse, it's an explanation." Bipolar and depression are diseases analogous to diabetes, wherein the body doesn't make enough of certain chemicals. Saying things like "Snap out of it" don't help, they make it far worse. Treatments like medications to replace the missing chemicals, therapy, behavior modification, and the understanding of others help.
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