My T and I were having a similar conversation today. We were talking about levels of depression and why I don't function even when when I think I feel better. he said that there are different levels of depression and i have been in it so long that maybe I have forgotten what my real personalitly is like. I told him that everyt time I start to feel better and do more things that I and the people around me say that I am getting manic. He told me that when I am feeling those lesser levels of depression that those are the times when I need to practice functioning skills like showering, getting out for small, non threatening outings so that I have those resources for when I am really low He told me not to worry about the feeling that I might be going hypomanic because I have a lot of supports in place to stop it if it looks like I might get out of control.