Thanks guys. Yes, sugahorse, I agree with dealing with each symptom as they come up. I started with a new psychdoc recently and I said I have been diagnoased with Bipolar 1 and also Bipolar 2 at different times by different doctors - even the same doctor!! lol But the new guy said don't worry about it, it's a moot point, it doesn't matter because the treatement is the same, and I think he's right.

sugarhorse, do you know much about ADD/ADHD? This isn't for myself but one of my brothers. He's a very sick man from alcohol and drug addiction as well as mental illness and he has been unable to get clean and sober. He is violent, aggressive and unable to control his aggression. He has serious unaddressed psych issues and one thing he has been diagnosed with is ADHD. I am very ignorant about it and I thought it was only aout attention issues - but read recently that it can also include an inability to hold in strong emotions and aggression. I sort of thought, maybe that's part of why he's so out of control and maybe why he can't get sober ad clean, and also why every single person or organisation he comes into contact with ends up in a huge fight?

sjane and palemoss and jack, if you can or wish to, could you give me a little bit of info on borderline, because I think it is one of the lesser understoof illnessess, certainly by me - I'm just asking that so I'm better educated.

I know a new DSM is coming out and I think as the science gets better all these labels will get clearer. For one thing, I feel Bipolar is a title, but under it is a whole serious of illnesses. And if there was more clarity than that, maybe the wider community would at least have a glimpse of what a complicated and devastating illnesses it is - where were are fighting on so many different fronts every day - thus twice the mortality rate of Unipolar depression.