Saw this article earlier. I'm hoping that this could one day become 'my story': http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0929141530.htm

I only began having severe issues a year and a half ago at 19. I'm 20 and I think I haven't spent enough time in my illness that I can't hope for a stable, 'cured' future. Also, considering that I am so young, I don't like the idea of spending the last 60 years of my expected life span on medications. I have time to work it out and I'm not 'busted' yet.

In favor of meds: I think untreated bipolar disorder has the ability to get worse, along with other untreated psychiatric conditions. I think a lot of this could be a result of prolonged stress harming the brain and making it more difficult for it to recover. With bipolar disorder especially it's important to be stable. For, say, unipolar depression, where braincells die/shrink, it's really a downward spiral until intervention is sought. For these reasons I believe intervention with meds can be vitally important. Yet I also don't believe that discontinuation of a med at the right time will cause the patient's brain to immediately revert to the state it was in.

However, I know that treatment doesn't end with medication and that therapy, diet, exercise, healthy life choices and social conditions, etc are all part of 'healing' from a mental disorder. For this reason I like to think of medication as a 'leg up' before pursuing other healthy options.

But I also believe that many cannot get over their suffering without meds and that there are people who benefit more from medication than the side effects. I believe that meds can be important to neurological health, but I also think that healthy life style can become its own medication.