When I was first diagnosed a year ago, I was actually relieved, as it answered a whole lot about my life thus far. I was also thinking that I had done all that was recommended for depression and had failed! It just turned out it was more than unipolar depression.
I was reading a book about the subject of bipolar and something stood out (sorry, can't remember the title). It talked about how sometimes people refer to themselves as "bipolar" rather than saying they have "bipolar disorder". I prefer to say the latter, as it reminds me that I am a human being who struggles with a condition. If you think about it, people with other diagnoses don't say, "I am cancer" or "I am arthritis". Some food for thought..............