People often know very little about bipolar disorder. If you're stable, they think it's gone like the flu. It doesn't work that way. It isn't gone, just in remission. It can come back in some form at any time.

I think many of us deal with minor residual symptoms between bigger episodes. We're not out to look ill when we can try to just live in the moment and cope well. People can't know these residual symptoms unless they're clear as day, or if we dwell on them all the time, which I try not to do. And again, even if everything is peachy keen, my bipolar disorder still exists. It's not cured. My diagnosis wasn't wrong.

Others are not the only ones who doubt our diagnoses from time to time. More people than I can count doubt their own diagnosis during remissions. Maybe some don't have the disorder. Sometimes it takes episode after episode, throughout years, for it to be confirmed "Maybe I [she/he] really do/es have bipolar disorder". It was like that for me. I had my first episodes at 14/15 and then again and again throughout my 20s (with remission periods) until they became especially severe in my 30s. Then, it would seem preposterous that I did NOT have bipolar disorder. And yet, there are still people out there that might have remained unconvinced.