I am not even sure what I am!! Have been diagnosed with a mood disorder, general anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder. I have fallen in and out of depression my whole life. After reading tons of posts at PC, I realize I do and have done many manic things. I have never fully discussed it with my psychiatrist but since I recently finally got into the VA, I am going to ask for a complete evaluation when I get into the psychiatrist (a 6 week wait).

Because I have never fully discussed my diagnoses with my psychiatrist, (my appointments are 5 minutes long and I have been afraid to ask for new medications nor am I sure I want them) I think my current psych is just continuing with my original meds/diagnoses. I only know what my diagnoses are because I got copies of my medical records in order to apply for disability (which I immediately got because of a serious suicide attempt that also left me physically disabled for a while). I lose my disability in April because I am a lot better but I still have a lot of trouble handling stress and am unsure if in is due to my circumstances (poverty, relationships) or because of mental instability.

Not really knowing how mentally ill I am or if I am bipolar leaves me feeling like I do not have a forum that is my home (but I do love the people at PC including the people at the bipolar forum). So, for me, the best thing about forums and subforums, is that it can be educational for people trying to figure things out. Mental issues overlap but people at the bipolar forum exhibit some characteristics that are unique to this forum. This has been helpful for me in understanding what bipolar symptoms might be. Perhaps if there was a BP1 forum and a BP2 forum, the symptoms of the diagnosis would stand out even more though sometimes I think if we have been given a diagnoses, we start noticing certain traits more because we are stereotyping ourselves. Diagnoses remain completely confusing to me.....