I concur with CindyLuWho and Innerzone. It is perfect. I've tried to explain bipolar to people before in a way that I thought they could understand or at the very least emphasize with but they still didn't or couldn't get it. I just keep getting responses along the lines of 'Well you can't think like that.' I'm going to copy your Life on a See-Saw into a note on my crackberry and use it as an explanation piece the next time the conversation arises. I just went through my journal from my last hospitalization (April 2009) not that long ago. In one particular entry I wrote about how the group counselor was talking about how we need to hone our coping skills so we can 'rebuild' our lives. To think about it like rebuilding a house. He said if we build our house on sand (poor coping skills) then as soon as the tide (life's ups and downs) comes in our foundation is compromised. I was like that's awesome advice. But what if we're starting not with sand but a vast rocky terrain? With random pieces of sharp jagged rocks jutting up and deep almost bottomless valleys (set in maladaptive coping skills) and only a hammer and chisel to level the terrain to prepare the land to start building upon? What do we do then? How do we ever get ahead? Forget getting ahead, how do we ever get our building area level so we can be on the same playing field as a 'normal' person? Especially when the tools never seem adequate? Sorry for the rant. But your see-saw description made think of that. You put so it much better than I could have ever hoped or imagined I'd be able too. Kudos!