I turned here too, Rene, and it's the first time in my life I've really felt the need to talk to someone on a message board also. My younger brother is going through diagnosis right now for what the doctors think is bi-polar. From what I have been learning about it, it seems to take a lot of time before the right combination of medicines can be found to treat each different patient. His condition has been going on for just over a month, and he has already seemed to show improvement since he was first in the hospital. The most promising thing I heard him say was that he realized it WAS possible to feel all-right, and that he was glad there were medicines out there for him to take. He said he felt like he never had any close friends, and that he was anti-social, which I never would have described him as at all, but then, what do I know? I sympathize with your situation because I am the same age, and a single girl who also feels like I am going nowhere in my life. I have held a decently-enough paying job for over 7 years, with health benefits and a 401K, and all that stuff, but I am so un-satisfied with life also. I don't personally feel like I have bi-polar, but seeing my brother go through this has made me feel even worse, since there are people out there who are going through VERY real problems, and it makes the day-to-day stuff I do like working and living seem really un-important. When my brother was first put in the hospital, he was really agitated and violent and when I visited him they had him in physical restraints. This was so tough for me to see my "baby" brother like this. But within a month, he has already gone from THAT to actually talking about how bad he felt before any of this was discovered, and while there are still extreme ups and downs from day to day, and even minute to minute while the doctors evaluate and re-evaluate him, I am right now hopeful that bi-polar, and similar issues are very treatable. I am am hoping for the patience and the strength to get through this and be there for my brother, and by knowing that there are so many others out there, like yourself, who are reaching out to either seek or give help, I am even more assured that recovery is possible for us all.