I know the feeling, John. Don't know if you're recently diagnosed, but when I was first dx'd my family was all over it. They figured almost everything I said or did had something to do with my illness, like I couldn't have a normal emotional reaction as everybody else does. If I was upset, they'd look at each other like "Uh-oh, Mom's gonna throw one of her bipolar b**** fits!" If I cried, I was in a depression.......you get the picture.

Thankfully, through frequent discussions, they've realized that even people with this disorder go through situational stresses, feel all the feelings that 'normal' people do, and it's not necessarily because we are bipolar.....it's because we are human!

Keep educating your family, if you can; if you can't, get them information from your doctor's office or the library. Even the most well-intentioned folks can fall into the trap of subscribing to society's view of the mentally ill; they don't do it because they want to hurt anyone, it's because they don't know any better.

Welcome to PC, and feel free to ask anything you want.....whatever one of us hasn't experienced with this disorder, another has, so I'd say we have the bases covered pretty well.