Hi, all and thank you for your replies and input. You've all given me a few things to consider. I honestly don't want to turn my friends into "unpaid therapists" as one poster suggested. Just simple conversation and socializing would be enough. It's very healing and therapeutic for me to go just forget about my illness for a time, you know?

Maybe my perceptions are a bit skewed or maybe I'm overthinking things way too much.. but isn't forming connections and empathy one of the points of socializing to begin with? If we can't expect a reasonable amount of compassion and understanding from the people who are supposed to the closest to us, then why bother? It's true that not every relationship develops the way we want them too. Some will be will acquaintances, or shopping buddies, or whatever. But these are women I've known and have had intimate talks with for a long time. We've been through divorces, raising our children, phone calls at 1 am, you name it.

I'm not trying to be difficult. This is probably all part of the acceptance process. I can see this this is common among others with bipolar disorder, and eventually I'll get over it. For now, though, it really hurts.