No, beauflow, I can't say that it has ever worked for me--not when I was I kid, not now that I'm old. I guess people mean well or are trying to be supportive, but I think they must never have been clinically depressed (bipolar or otherwise).

If I could "think" myself happier of course I would. There's no "why" I'm tailspinning into that black hole. It's chemical--not choice or lack of will. If someone says, "keep your chin up!," I now longer say that it's not my chin, it's my brain chemistry. They just don't/can't get it.

My tdoc has said this sort of thing too, so even the educated can not-get-it on some fundamental level.

Anger is a big enemy of mine. I have trouble forgiving these people. I try to just brush them aside, like a stray thought in meditation, before I focus on them entirely.

Maybe that can help you. Take care--it's not just you.