This statement caught my eye. I guess I thought that everyone is at some point on the bipolar continuum...like maybe people who don't suffer with any MI at all would be "not at all bipolar." Perhaps a spectrum would be:

Not at all bipolar-----Kinda bipolar-----A lot bipolar-----Nothing but bipolar

So, while your therapist suggests that you might be on the spectrum, s/he could mean that you're quite high on the spectrum, if not at the highest level. So I don't interpret the spectrum as minimizing your symptoms at all. In my mind, this is kind of interesting because I think that the degrees of bipolarity are overlapping and not exclusive. Maybe people should be diagnosed only as "Bipolar," with a specifier, "Currently a lot." I'm being a little silly now.

But seriously, the spectrum concept is a little confusing. If it's true, then a person shouldn't really have a fixed diagnosis at all because it changes. For instance, right now I consider myself to be quite well recovered. Just kidding (well not really...).