I am finding this all a little strange. My dx where BP and BPD. I have tried meds without much effect but if I am honest I have avoided them for a paranoia they would do me harm.

From reading all the stuff on BP it states that medication is the main part of treatment. However, if you look at cyclothymia for example there appears to be a debate about whether or not that needs medication.

I am in the BP2/Cyclothymia/Borderline area and feel I maybe should have taken them. I only haven't through quite an insightful understanding of the early traumas which have caused my illness. You have to remember that your brain also forms based on those early experiences. I still haven't been able to function as I would like especially in relationships but my condition has led to me being very highly functioning and gaining national recognition in my field of work.

Is the general advice that medication should be the mainstay of treatment correct? Maybe we are fed a westernised view of how to treat illness ie pop a pill rather than looking at the whole picture? I don't know. I just know that maybe I should have explored meds more especially a decade or so ago when things were really unbearable.