For me it's definitly gotten better.
I was a mess as a teenager, I was mess after dx, just as I was a mess medicated...

And by mess I mean, my episodes were severe, dangerous and more frequent than I care to admit, I didn't know if I was coming or going, felt like a fricken human yo-yo thinking something was bound to snap inside my head at anytime, bcoz that shyt is just too crazy!!!...

28 now, so much more self-aware, I have aquired good coping mechanisms, great source of support online here with you guys, and the knowledge that I just need to get through the now, has helped me immensely. Taking responsiblity for my wellbeing, including cleansing myself of toxic relationships, all the while staying true to who I am has been the cornerstone of my current state of wellbeing.

My cycles are less prominant these days, it's like I only have remnants of mood cycles, not full blown ones any longer, and haven't had an actual episode since, lord knows when... Think March 2012??? Yes that anehodonia spell I experienced, that was it.

So for me, time, knowledge, wisdom, has made my bp experience easier to contend with, and that is without psychmeds...

Looking after yourself is imperative, problem is, there is no cookie cutter version of looking after yourself, and this is where the medical model fails alot of us, so we have to blaze our own trail to wellness.

I don't buy the kindling theory, simply because "they' also say that untreated Schizophrenia causes brain atrophy when I know my aunt suffered brain atrophy from psychmeds, AP's if I'm not mistaken.... Also, to make my point, all those shrunken brains of the people dxd SCZ, they were patients no? So how do we know it wasnt the meds? And how many unmedicated SCZ patients did they manage to find to compare them to?.... Just some food for thought

ETA: Ooops, didn't mean to write a novel