Telling family and friends is something to take cautiously, and with much forethought. Remember it is a one-way street. Once you tell someone, you can never in-tell them, and some will hold it against you.

There are a lot of people out there who equate someone who is bipolar with someone who is bipolar and "off their meds." The media likes to make tremendously sensational stories of people who have done sensational and/or terrible things, using bipolar as the "why." As such, most of society has a predisposition toward a negative reaction to anyone who deals with bipolar.

My family knows, my very close friends know, but nobody else knows the things I struggle with. I don't disclose at work or in any other public forum, mainly because it's none of their business. Granted, I'm relatively "high-functioning" and can appear normal in most social situations.