Welcome, jstedt!

The thing that is (to me) most curious of your experience is the timeline. Usually if someone is undiagnosed bipolar and given SSRIs, it's quickly obvious. How long it takes for a given anti-depressant to flip someone into mania(or hypomania) will differ from person to person of course, but 3-4 years certainly does seem like something besides a simple "unmasking" of one's bipolar. So it does seem a bit more complex than that. -- It does make you wonder.

I really don't know. It does seem reasonable to consider a cause and effect like you are. Especially in light of the timeframe.

My personal experience, for what it's worth, was that SSRIs wreaked havoc on me. My Ex had seen many ups and downs over the years, but there was a particularly long severe depression when he had to insist I go see someone. First, I was prescribed Lexapro (by a GP). Within 2 days, I went from utterly, horridly depressed to bouncing off the walls. Wow! This is GREAT! I didn't know any better so didn't question it. (Unfortunately, neither did the GP.) But then all hell broke loose. Up bad. Down bad. I questioned it then for sure! Fortunately, I did see a Pdoc who diagnosed me properly (bipolar). There had been a pattern of big spans of wide extremes for many years (20+!). She put me on Lamictal. I've since had times of being on Wellbutrin but only in addition to the Lamictal. I have a different psych provider now, but they both agree --No SSRIs for you! Lol.

So anyway... The anti-depressants didn't create a bipolar situation, they only threw a harsh spotlight on the already long-standing symptoms. That's my experience. Oh, and yes, a fair bit of family evidence. (Undiagnosed -- to my knowledge, which isn't much-- as they're very "old school". Hush- hush and under the rug with everything.)