Thanks for setting this up, Laura.

My name is Peter.
I was a part time musician, full time photographer, and am still a husband, and dad of 3 girls.
I am unemployed, and working day by day at reclaiming the lost ground in attention span, social skills, and the ability to use my brain again.

I had my first manic symptoms when I was 14. My parents were concerned with my strange behaviour and took me to our family doctor who didn't know what to make of it. Depression followed, then normality again. I stayed off psychoactive drugs, determined to beat it on my own. This went on for another 31 years before I finally saw a psychiatrist. Despite my suspicion that I was bipolar, he decided to treat my depression with Prozac alone. I immediately became severely manic, and began ultra-rapid cycling with mixed states.
Now 9 months later I am on Lithium and Epilim alone which seem to keep me out of depression, but I still spend a lot of my time in the land of impulsiveness, passion, midnight ambitions, and de-realisation experiences.

I have made a couple of very special friends here on Psych Central - friendships that may have been difficult to start, had we not had the protection of anonymity and assurance that we were in the same boat.

I hope everyone who joins us here will have at least that same special and encouraging experience.