That's been one of the hardest things for me to figure out with my recent diagnosis of BP II (4 months ago) is do you tell people or not. Luckily my family has been super supportive, which wasn't surprising because my older sister was diagnosed BP three years ago. The friends I have told have been wonderful, but I've always known that I've had great friends. But outside of my family and then a handful of friends, I haven't told anyone mainly because of the stigma attached to BP. I don't have any BP friends so no one completely understands which is why I joined this place. I think the news coverage of Catherine's BP treatment is unnecessary and has actually fed into the stereotypes that people have about BP. It really frustrates me.