Hi folks.. It's been awhile. Mostly because since going on Abilify I've been feeling great. But my father died recently (he was 77 and was in relatively poor shape) and I feel like depression is starting to settle in. So I'm wondering how other bipolars react to this sort of thing. My initial reaction was pretty flat.. and now I'm wondering if that was because of the mood stabilizers. But now I'm starting to descend. It doesn't FEEL like grief in terms of getting super emotional when thinking about my dad even though that happens sometimes.. but without tears. It feels so similar to the beginnings of other depressions I've had. It's been a week since his death.

Another thing that was an eye opener was meeting up with my half-sisters and nieces and nephews at the funeral. Turns out that one of my half-sisters (went to drug rehab in her 20s) was diagnosed with ADHD (at age 50), and two of her kids (in their 20s) are experiencing what seems like bipolar disorder. My niece was hospitalized for psychosis after 4 weeks of not being able to sleep due to what was presumably anxiety. And my nephew had a bad depression last year and when I talked to him about it and I asked him if he had ever experienced mania.. he described periods of low sleep and obsessive organizing. He can also not hold a job and dropped out of college. My Dad was never diagnosed but I believe he was bipolar due to his life history, frequent job changes, periods of depression (he died depressed) and periods of extreme interest in diverse activities. Anyway... I still continue to question my diagnosis... but learning about this was an eye opener.