(As an aside, I just need say that I do NOT believe BP II is "less severe". I could totally go on a rant about it. I do believe it is over-diagnosed, and still. Not to criticize your use of it. Truly. One does hear it after all! And it can make BP IIs feel even worse, you know? So, if this is the case for you, know that there are many experts who can spell out just how serious it can be for those who have it.)

Even licensed medical heath professionals are not infallible-- the very nature of MI makes perfection impossible for them. Hopefully they try their best, but at the end of the day, they are not the only one involved. True, sometimes they have to go with their best assesment and tell us hard things. We don't always want to hear them, but after careful consideration from ourselves (and perhaps those who are close, as they get to see far more of our behavior than any P-doc or T possibly could...) it is completely fair to disagree. They are one person.

The test you propose would not yield the answer to your question. The first one maybe, but not the second. I feel compelled to say this because I'd hate to see you go through all that for a faulty premise.

It's too bad your first counselor was the fill in! Good grief! I'm so glad your second one is great though! Good for you! That can make such a huge difference! The next time he is going on vacation, see if he can recommend someone else (not the first one!). Sounds like he (first one) gave you a very big setback! And who needs that???!!!

"Rant" away, Michelle! It's no problem. Everyone needs to be able to blow off steam and sometimes it's hard to find a safe place to do it. I hope that nothing I said comes off as the least bit harsh. Truly not my intention at all. When we doubt our perception, everything just gets so jumbled that it's hard to think logically and I just hate to see one person so tilt your world. If anything here helps "un-tilt", yea! If it doesn't, please disregard! Like above, I'm only one person and not even licensed, lol.

and welcome to the forums! There's a lot of support and learning from others' experience here! Keep us posted ok? You've got a lot to sort through right now -- is your good counselor back from vacation yet? Hope he can be a help to you in this!