EXACTLY what sickofsadness said. before my GP suggested bp2 I had wondered if something might be wrong with me but didn't think bp "fit" because I never have the good kind of mania - I get extremely irritable and have difficulty concentrating/sleeping, and have a lot of anger and overreacting to things. typical "sorry I'm just stressed out and having a bad day" stuff I mentioned that to her and she explained that especially in bp2 you can have mainly depression with bursts of anger/irritability as your form of "mania" along with periods of normalcy in between. you don't have to be hospitalized or homicidal/suicidal to have a bp dx, and at least for me I had a hard time recognizing/acknowledging I may need treatment because of this.