I feel fairly stable now, and have been at this point more these past couple years than for a very long time. Bpcyclist, like you, my illness changed a bit over the course of my life. I had severe episodes at 15, 19/20, 24, sorta kinda intermittently between 24 and 32, then severe for much of 33 to 40 years old. Then things weren't as bad, but I was left with various trauma. I do still have plenty of what I call "blips" of mood elevation (mostly) and some downswings, but my moods are now pretty darned level compared to a lot of my life. My stress tolerance was greatly reduced because of that trauma.

During my less severe years of my youth, I had what were surely extremely long-term hypomanic states that didn't reach full-blown. That was still quite problematic for me, in various respects. Only during the "severe" periods I mentioned did I reach full-blown manic or have depressions of notable severity. Those were long-lasting and highly disabling, with plenty of psychosis.

I only experience psychosis during severe mood episodes. I do not have it when my moods are otherwise normal or seemingly only mildly affected. [Sort of "classic" bipolar?] IOWs, if you went down the bipolar symptoms list, most or all were severe. I lack insight during severe periods and experience significant thought disorders.At their worst, there was no need for me to tell people I was manic. It was scarily obvious. Most everyone at my former workplace knew I was very ill, mentally. I didn't disclose that. My illness did.Ditto when it came to my neighbors. Having ambulances show up or six cops show up, attracts attention.