My mother had bipolar so I had a genetic predisposition, but my symptoms started because I was in a horrible marriage to an abusive bully. I have a therapist who has been seeing me for two years, starting exactly when I finally broke free (thanks to my friends on this forum!). My therapist has observed me both on Lithium and off Lithium and she says that I have a tendency towards elevated mood, but had I not had such a horrendous trigger, I would not have developed this illness. This is an opinion of somebody who has been seeing me weekly.