it was explained to me that I have bipolar 1 instead of 2 because I have psychosis. but my t told me I present mostly as bipolar 2 because I am more prone to hypomanias more than anything else, but I have to have the other diagnosis because of the occasional psychosis and you don't have psychosis with bipolar 2. I also have ptsd. it is true the same meds work for a lot of different things. I was a rapid cycler so I always seemed to be either manic or depressed more than I had a stable mood. I knew it was just emotional because no matter what I did behaviorally to address it, nothing impacted or lessened it severity. no amount of coping skills changed what I was going through. once I got on the right medication....bingo...it was gone...take care