I was diagnosed as Bipolar I almost exactly a year ago. I completely went off the rails - lost my job, quit going to school, isolated myself, delusions.. you name it. Now that I'm stable again, one of my only friends believes that the reason I lost it was because of my brothers death 4 years ago. I was diagnosed with PTSD following his accident, so maybe that did have some sort contribution to me losing it, but it wasn't the sole factor. I don't think there was a single factor that created the perfect storm leading up to my episode. Either way, she believes that that's what caused my "nervous breakdown." No matter how many times I tell her it wasn't a nervous breakdown, it was a manic/depressive episode, she always reverts to it being a nervous breakdown. It bothers me because that's not what happened. I know she doesn't mean anything by it, but she believes she understands exactly what happened and everything I went through and despite describing bits of my ordeal, she still gets it wrong while speaking with conviction about what happened. Recently, she's been claiming she needs to be hospitalized. I haven't said anything to her and I would never tell her this, but it feels like she only wants to be hospitalized because I was. It's like she thinks it's cool and will give her a new type of "cred." It's like she wants to go just so she can let everyone know that she has. It makes me feel small. I just wish she understood that mental illness is more than a stunt to grab attention. Has anyone gone through a similar situation? Am I being unfair to her? Sometimes I think I might be.

Sorry for the rambling. It's just that this has been bothering me for a while now.