And I hear you on being blindsided with therapy; my prescribers won't prescribe if I'm not in therapy. I frankly do not understand this; when I'm properly medicated, I'm way more self-aware, insightful, and well adjusted than the average bear. They did tell me I need better coping skills for when I'm depressed, but I'm really not sure that there's anything more I can do because I figured out an awful lot of that stuff without any help. But whatever. I go along with it because I definitely need meds.

Imho, it makes perfect sense. Chemistry doesn't work 100%, you still can get pretty bad episode.............. and now you have something to off yourself with at hands. And damage control and learning to recognize our flawed patterns is important...... sure one can do it on their own, but if you seek help in the system, you probably can use some extra help.