Don't know if this is a good place to vent about credit addiction, but feel free to steer me in the right direction if you know of a better forum for this issue.

Bipolar II, mainly major depression... "highs" are many years apart, and are just a terrific, mild hypomania, for a few too-short months at best.

I haven't had to be "way up" to abuse credit... as long as I've been able to obtain credit, inevitably I get in over my head and wind up defaulting. This has happened several times. I always promise myself that "this time" I will keep it in check, pay everything off... but it is too tempting to "mood alter" by buying things. Getting car repairs. Cash advances. Juggling accounts, using one to pay another, etc. Just about anything I couldn't otherwise afford would be appealing.

OK so it's been a few years since my last default. Only have a secured card now, no credit. Though I've generally been able to shake off the creditors (no blood from a stone defense), now there's at least one very aggressive collector fishing around for bank and credit union accounts to garnish. Same is happening to my sister, who I share a home with. We face having to file bankruptcy to protect our home from any attempt to put a lien or whatever... this is all very new because (amazingly) a dear wealthy friend left us the house in her will! Never been homeowners before so this seems to be where the credit abuse comes to a head. On the off chance that collectors find out we own a house (unlikely they'd be looking for that, but??) we gotta take steps to protect the home.

Just wondering if anyone out there has had a similar jones and what they've learned from it. So far I've resisted trying to get credit again (hasn't been long enough anyway, my record is terrible). I'm applying gratitude for what I already have and remind myself that all the "stuff" I essentially stole does not mean much of anything, it cannot fill a void or change the mood for long... gee, much like any additive drug or booze, eh?