People certainly treated me differently when my diagnosis went from clinically depressed to bipolar, but of course I doubt that most of them knew what either diagnosis really meant. Suddenly, though, I was scarier. Kids I used to take places weren't available anymore. People I did things with became unusually busy. In essence, I don't see probably 60% of the people I used to see.

And at work, when I asked casually, "what's bipolar about, do you know?" except for Charlie Sheen & Brittany Spears (who were laughed at but declared unsafe for children), several murderers, kidnapper/murderers, & rapist/murders were mentioned. These were my coworkers--librarians, college profs & administrators.

I decided to tell no one there that I had this complication ...