Icare dixit I reread your post. When I lived in the north my diagnosis was major depression. And my depressions lasted decades with no true relief. But they were treating it atypically as nothing completely workked, including a year on lithium. Which made 0 difference. SSRIs are the inly ADs which relieved it somewhat, and they always included an AP. Liiking back, my therapists feel that my depression also included mixed episodes.

When I moved to the south I believe it's all the sunlight down here that brought out the mania and hypomania and rapid cycling. So the diagnosis changed to bipolar. I don't experience the huge lengthy depressions I did up north.