For me personally a traumatic event is what triggered my mental illness when I was 22, so I'm not too sure I can blame the diet soda specifically since I was consuming for about 4 years prior to that, but I'm really wondering if now many years later (I'm 29 now) if the additional consumption of it is preventing me from getting stable this time around since I haven't responded to any medications. Again, since aspartame increases dopamine (I can't even begin to imagine how much it increases for me since I drink at least a gallon a day!) it works against AP's. it's definitely worth trying.