I think it's natural and reasonable to do a great deal of research upon diagnosis. I was diagnosed 23 years ago and ran around to every library in the city, including the university ones. I did it partly for amusement. I found the stories of mania hilarious, like this woman who insisted on continuing to campaign for a candidate long after he had won! I laughed so hard at that one i had tears.

But it passed and i rarely read about bipolar now. I haven't gone to the bipolar support group regularly in years and i stopped going to my drop-in months ago. I'm impatient with self-help books and only had a brief look into the new self-compassion movement.

Life goes on.