I'm sorry, but your friend sounds extremely ignorant. You mentioned she is a social worker so I am sure she deals with many belligerent bipolar people. What your friend has not figured out is that no two people with the condition are the same. Some become very bitter about the diagnosis and choose to let the illness consume them and are usually the ones to cause problems. However, you have taken every step on the road of recovery and it is just sad how your friend cannot differentiate you from the cases she works on. It's just like making generalizations about people based on hair color. They are both genetically based.

No one has ever said such a thing to me when I revealed my bipolar 1. Actually, I was the one who kept telling myself I would never get better or be the same person again. I kept saying to myself that I will never finish school, no one would hire me, and no one was going to marry me. One day I decided that I am the only one who has the power to make myself happy and just decided to make the best of the situation.

Depending on how close the friendship is, I would tell your friend hoe their comment has hurt you and point out that generalizing people with bipolar is essentially no different from racism.