Thanks Clive for your post. Since being diagnosed just recently I have been looking back over the years and can recall that seriously stressful things that went on in my life triggered my hypomania and then the serious long bouts of depression.Just last year I took an LNA course .It was my first time in a class room in decades. I did exceptionally well but the stress of it( almost immediatly when it ended) caused a 2 week hypomanic period and then several months of serious depression and that was when I finally called for help. Doing great on my meds & feel almost normal! lol