Same. 75% of the people I interact with know that I have bipolar. Most people don't understand or relate, though, to bipolar so I end up talking to others about their depression or anxiety since those have always been part of my bipolar. The other folks usually feel less alone after we talk, and I do too most times.

Until a few weeks ago, I'd forgotten that my ultra openness is relatively new. Even just two years ago, I didn't talk about my depression and anxiety (as it was diagnosed then) with many people at all. I had a lot of shame about it. I felt like if I told people then they'd know too much, in a paranoid sense. I also didn't want to talk about it because what if it went away? I believed somewhere inside that if I worked hard enough, the depression and anxiety would go away. If they went away, I didn't want people to know; I wanted to pretend it never happened.

Then when I got my bipolar diagnosis, I realized that this isn't going away. Bipolar doesn't go away. It's a lifelong illness. I'm going to struggle with this for the rest of my life, so I might as well talk about it so that I can get the help I need when I need it. I'm so glad. I am really glad to not have this huge secret inside me.

Part of the reason I used to be quiet about it is probably because I was in such a bad place. If someone else had talked to me while I was doing so badly about their depression or if other people know, it would have been detrimental for me. When I started on bipolar medications, I started feeling better for the first time. Now I can talk to other people about their experience without having it bring me down too.