I was treated with just anti-depressants for nearly a year before we realized I had bi-polar and not just depression. They were not working and I kept getting worse and worse. As soon as we added a mood stabilizer, I started "getting better". My hypo-mania is pretty "minimal" as well and we keep discussing whether the Depakote is actually doing anything, but knowing that when I wasn't on it I was doing so much worse, I'd have to say it must be!

Also - I was told Lithium and Depakote are kind of the similar ones (by my psych NP) so I tried Lithium first and then switched to Depakote. Lithium was the one I had to have my blood tested on but she never mentioned that with Depakote. Interesting. I'll have to ask about that.

As for flattening me out or losing creativity, that didn't happen to me at all and I'm taking 1,000mg of Depakote daily.