It depends on the situation but I'm fairly open about. My immediate family knows (there's just my parents and my brother and my nephew who is a toddler so he doesn't) and most of my extended family knows.

And I've told certain people I've worked with - not everyone because not everyone I feel really needs to know, but certain people I told because I was comfortable with them and once because a co worker confined in the struggles her child was having so I opened up.

I'm a loner so I don't have many close friends but one group knows all about it and they all have their own mental health or other health issues to deal with it. And I've told a couple of people since I moved recently. And when I had to quit working because of anxiety this summer I told the temp agency person I was working with (well some of it, I jsut talked about the anxiety) and she was very understanding. Even called in November to check on me and see if I was working again.

I don't lead off with the information but I treat it like I would any other medical condition. I mean, I don't know about every medical condition or illness people go through and sometimes they share and sometimes they don't.

I've been lucky because my family has been very supportive and understanding.

Occasionally I run across some who is a bit rude or is very "anti psychiatry/mental illness" and sometimes I defend without disclosing I have bipolar disorder and sometimes I disclose.

I was in one work situation where someone had to take an extended leave of absence due to mental health reasons, only a few people knew. And one of the young women went into this whole thing about psychaitry is sinful and she even had a friend who was struggling and wanted to confide in her (my co worker) but the co worker refused to listen to her and told her to pray about it instead.

WEll, that got me mad because growing up I heard quite a bit that my problems would go away if I prayed hard enough or happened because I didn't believe enough, wasn't a good enough Christian. I asked her if the woman on leave was in the hospital or being treated for mono or pneumonia or had been hit by a car would she medical intervention was sinful. Well, no was the reply. And I asked her if she thought all things came from God, including doctors and medicine. Well, yes, she said.

So, if all things come from God, then how can she say God didn't guide the psychiatrists and psychiatry and want anti depressants and whatnot to be created? And maybe, even God helped guide her into friendship with this particular person to be there for her in her hour of need?

Which pretty much shut her up and made her think.

I'm also pretty open on Facebook where I have people I know casually or friends from high school and family. I don't post every day about bipolar disorder, but I do talk about medication changes and have lots of things like NAMI friended and share posts and occasionally talk about on struggles.

I'm not ashamed that I have a disease. I'm not ashamed I have anxiety or bipolar disorder and sometimes I don't want to share because it's personal and I don't always want to share personal things, but I try very hard not to let anyone make me feel ashamed of having mental illness.