AV: For me, it's because I can't imagine being me without it. But knowing what my family was like, I think I would have ended up a lot worse off if I hadn't had some hypomanias making me think/believe that life was actually worth living.

My best guess of myself minus the hypomanias: I still would have been depressed as my family life wasn't very fun. I show a lot of the traits for Avoidant PD although I'm not diagnosed with anything - but those are the sorts of issues my T is working with me on. I would likely be nearly a recluse if I hadn't experienced hypomanias and then trained my behaviour to mimic it more often. It gave me confidence that I was able to apply to my life when no longer hypomanic.

There was no one in my life until maybe the last year or two in highschool that showed any real faith or caring towards me. Without the hypomanias, I wouldn't have had a single thing to encourage me to try and be happy or to push myself to do the things I wanted to do with my life.

So... I'd risk keeping the bipolar because if I didn't have those ups, I'm not sure if I would have had the strength to withstand.