Yeah, it is hard. I have freaked out so many people over the years that I really couldn't count them all. If it's someone in my inner circle, I just tell them that I was manic or psychotic or whatever and that it is part of my illness and I'm sorry if I upset them. If it's someone that I still want to be in communication with but is not inner circle, I might also approach them the same way.

In the long run, though, my go-to coping mechanism for this is 1) My illness is not my fault; 2) Doing or saying outrageous stuff is a part of this illness; 3) People who truly care about me will look past this sort of stuff; 4) What others think of me is actually none of my business; 5) You guys understand, and these are the things that ultimately really matter to me.