my parents put in me therapy when I was only 6, I had wild temper tantrums well before that. depression started around 12-13. and I first heard a professional (my therapist, and my first psychiatrist) call it bipolar disorder at 14. at the time it was BP II or NOS. things got significantly worse when I was 25 when I had my 2nd mixed episode (I didn't know that's what my 1st one was) and had psychotic symptoms along with more symptoms of mania that I had ever had before in the past. Now the dx is BP I with psychotic symptoms... wonderful right. never even knew what it was like to be "normal" before I lost my mind.