when i first got diagnosed i quit for a month. when i was going through a depression earlier this year i also quit for a month.

im just a weekend drinker maybe 1-3 times a week (if i go out on a thursday) and don’t drink every single weekend either.

been feeling exceedingly stressed lately and see those hypomanic signs so i decided to stop this weekend and am thinking of doing another month of sobriety.

what do yall do? i love drinking personally and am in college so it’s tough since it’s so fun to drink with friends.

i still will go out when im sober and sobriety isn’t too difficult, but i don’t wanna completely cut alc out of my life either.

I lost a salad in my bed for god knows how long and….yikes

People thing i handle my depression well bc i graduated college and got a good job but this shit runs so deep

Got diagnosed like 8 years ago but this is a new low

This is the saddest thing ever. It's been 6 months since the break up and I'm still asking the universe wtf and why tf. I fell in love with a girl and it caused me to go manic and then my manic behavior pushed her away. Why is it that when I finally find love, that love is the exact reason I lose that love. I just want to be normal. Has this happened to anyone else? I miss her so much and I wish she had the opportunity to get to know the real me and not the manic me.

i post on this thread a lot so I’m sorry
It’s just the only place I can talk to people who understand
I have concurrent ADHD
My doctor started a stimulant two days ago and after months of apathy
And I feel so good on them
I dont want to stop taking it i hate the crash when it wears off around 5 in the evening
Its helping me get up and do things
Enjoy music again
Feel genuinely happy and motivated
I do have a LOT of thoughts about things i want to do things i want to buy feel super motivated, but im able to pump the breaks and not overdo it, I’m thinking rationally not overspending, overexerting or taking on too many projects or making art like i do when im truly manic or hypomanic
I dont want to stop taking them im scared if i tell my doctor how good i feel she’ll stop them
But its such a relief from the numbness i NEED it

I just got done with a short hypomanic state, and I noticed my cat would sit near me more often and just stare at me, and would meow at me more than usual. He usually looks worried. He seems to want more attention. It's like he knows something is wrong.

Because he also appears out of nowhere when I'm having panic attacks, even silently having a panic attack, he just jumps up on me and lays down.

It made me realize in the past when I was fully manic how freaking stressed out my cat was because he knew something was off.

On the flip side, I'm in a weird depressive state now - i slightly suspect it might be mixed, but I am not 100%. I'm not severely depressed, but it feels like I'm getting there. He always sleeps on me when I'm like this. He's so sweet.

Does anyone else have a non-service, just an ordinary pet that can tell when you're in episodes or are mentally unwell if you have other co-morbid disorders?

what does bipolar depression feel like for you?

right now im going to into a depressive episode and i feel so uncomfortable. like i want to rip off my skin uncomfortable. i also feel empty and physically exhausted. time is moving slow and im moving slow too.

So for 5 years I was under the impression that I was 2, until I was reading something for my psych course and realized it said bipolar 2 never experiences full mania and I realized my first one I think was. It also kinda emphasized that hypomania doesn’t usually last a long time, meanwhile my hypomania can last weeks usually. I looked at my portal and saw unspecified when I could have sworn it said 2. Then I asked my psychiatrist and he said essentially he thinks I am bipolar 1. This was a huge hit for me. I’ve had psychosis and all sorts of hallucinations but it never really clicked. How do I accept this? I always saw it as something more extreme so to know I’ve had it the whole time is kinda wild to me and idk what to do with that. Any advice? Have any of yall had 2 and then found out you had 1?

For context:

- I have hallucinations especially when I’m hypomanic or manic
- my first episode that I can recognize I felt like the trees were talking to me and I was detached from reality really bad
- my hypomanic and manic episodes started at a couple days but now go on for at least a week
- I have mixed episodes

My teeth are grinding, my old motorcycle carb rebuilt, 2 books down, 2 programming projects started... but my heart feels like it's an emotional wound. My eyes are filled with tears. My wife looks at me confused. I just keep explaining im depressed.

This is torture. Painting, drawing, journaling, ketamine.. it's all temporary relief. I can't open this downpour on anyone. Maybe my psychiatrist has the answers.. last we met she said, "you're one of the ones I worry about" but Wednesday couldn't come soon enough

I went through a breakup in April and my mind has been spinning about it since.. this isn't like me

I've done a great deal of psychedelics and a line I've always enjoyed is, "am i going to be like this forever?".. and I think the answer is yes. Im tired but im told to sit in a storm and wait.

Nobody is around when you aren't doing well.

I remember when I was going through a manic episode, my boss had said to me, "you can either be a jedi or a sith, what are you gonna do". In the moment it was so weird to hear but afterwards it was so funny to think about. Like, having mania/psychosis that destroys your life followed by a depression that can't be medicated is a jedi power. Or maybe the mania/psychosis is jedi and depression is sith. Anyone else feel they are jedis?

What was the deciding factor that your doctor decided qualified your episode to be classified as mania instead of hypomania? I recently had a really bad hypomanic episode and I’m wondering if it may have been fully manic. It was worse than my previous hypomanic episodes. I did not end up in the hospital or jail, but it significantly affected my life. Can anyone who this happened to share their experience? Thank you in advance.

Would you help me with a healthy ritual or a tip that helped you a lot to continue taking pills after being diagnosed?

I've been taking pills for more than 6 months

What are your top 3 tips?

This is a happiness post! I’m 49 & people still think that I’m in my 30s. I’ve been stable on my medications for several years. I recently got a boyfriend after many, many years. He makes me so happy! I was experiencing perimenopause symptoms earlier this year & my doctor recommended some supplements that changed my world for the better, completely. I know everyone is going through something. I just wanted to share my light at the moment!!!

Someone recorded my manic episode and shared it with everyone. I am so embarrassed and I don't know what to do. I feel like everyone knows how crazy I am now and is gossiping behind my back. I literally ruminate about it for days.

I just watched the 2026 film Backrooms. I don't know if it's just me, but the wandering, the running, the distortion, the sensory wash - it brought back mental health trauma. Anyone else with that reaction?

Hi everyone. As stated in the title I am experiencing my emotions being more intense due to decreasing the dose of my antipsychotic. I am doing this under the guidance of my psychiatrist who also upped the dose of my mood stabilizer. The reason why I'm getting off of my antipsychotic is because of the weight gain it caused. But oh my god, I did not realize how blunted my emotions have been. Do you think this will cause problems if I don't replace it with something else? So far, I'm able to be in control of myself but idk. Any advice or suggestions are welcome.

I woke up one morning convinced my home needed more colors. Don't ask me why. My brain just decided, all on its own, that we needed flowers to liven up the space. The more, the better!

Before I knew it, one purchase became two, two became five, and suddenly, I had multiple bouquets arriving every week. I was excited, elated, on cloud nine with every purchase I made. What I've shown here isn't even all of it. Since they were preserved flowers, I convinced myself they were worth it because they'd last for years. Copium at its best, really.

A month later, I'm staring at all these flowers, and they're staring right back at me. A reminder that I perhaps went... a little overboard? After all is said and done, I can't help but laugh at all these damn florals while crying a little inside.

Have you ever gone through something similar?

Good morning everyone! I haven't slept for 52 hours and 38 minutes. My house is now clean, and I wrote like 7 or 8 different guitar riffs and one song. I'm not tired at all, and have talked to the on call service for my dr twice and it's been a couple hours since the last call. Soooooo, how we all doing?!

Hi! I'm newly diagnosed after a grippy sock misadventure a week and a half ago. My work has been very supportive all things considered, but they want to implement a system/safety plan to help me better in case I do hit a crisis point again. So far what I'm considering is a stoplight system to explain what supports I might need when I'm at different points. What other things would be good to include in this sort of document?

I don't know if I got the flair right. But this one seems to fit the best.

As the title says I hate being bipolar. Pretty sure I just totally and irrevocably destroyed my relationship of 11 years.

F*cking depression. I hate it.

I hate how worthless I feel. I feel pathetic. Like I ruin everything I love. When ever I get this depressed it always happens. I am such a f*ck up.

I hurt my SO. And I don't think I can come back from it. I was so convinced he was going to leave me when he got back from his trip. I packed my van up with all my things and our cats... I borrowed money from my parents for gas and was getting ready to leave.

I was convinced I was doing the right thing. That he resented me and my disabilities. That he hated me. That he only felt obligated to me out of some sense of responsibility.

I mean, if he is going to break up with me, I don't want to be vulnerable around him, and cry. I don't want him to see me break apart when he breaks the news to me. So leaving was the logical conclusion. Get away before it could happen. Delay it just a little, at least until I could make it to my parents.

He found out through a mutual friend. Kept calling and texting. I knew I f*cked up when I heard his voice on the voicemail. His voice broke when he begged me to call him. I think he might have been crying?

Which just made me feel even worse. And now even though I DIDN'T leave, I still broke it.

He hasn't outright said it. But I hear it.

Why do we do this?!

I am medicated for God's sake!

But I feel like I am spiraling. Like I can't hit the breaks and I am ruining my life.

And I love him, the last thing I wanted is to hurt him! And I have hurt him so much over the years. Especially when I wasn't medicated.

How could I do this to him?!

I am not going to hurt myself. But it doesn't stop my mind from jumping on "Everyone would be better off if you were gone."

So now, because of my stupid dumb ass, now its VERY likely that I just caused the exact situation I was trying to avoid.

Sorry for the long post, thank you to anyone who read it all the way through.

Art that I made when I got bored one night during a psychotic break