Hi Isolda. If you experience fun, then it's real. It doesn't matter if it was hypomania or not. At least that's my view. I'm definitely not suggesting that you chase hypomania/mania. Just enjoy a good day and every moment you can in life.

Before my diagnosis, I only recognized anxiety and depression and didn't look at them as mental illness. More as a brain flu that I knew would come and go...like a flu. It took a while to gain insight into my hypomanias and even full blown manias. I thought they were just me and my joie de vivre. I thought I had times when I really rocked! As for mixed states, I often blamed life circumstances or that they were also a form of brain flu. Anger? Always seemed justified, in my book.

It took my episodes becoming more frequent and more severe for me to really realize there was a major problem. It took severe strife, near firing, hospitalizations and psychosis to really hammer home in my mind. It's a shame it took that long.