Yes. I almost failed 10th grade because I missed so many days skipping school because of a depression. In early 11th grade, I had a rather traumatic thing happen at school, surely related to my bipolar disorder. [At the time, I wrongly thought I had schizophrenia.] I had to go to a teen therapist, but that lasted only two or three sessions (long story). Then my guidance counselor recommended my parents send me to a private school, which they did. I liked it there, but was still not completely well. I became hyper religious (found God/converted to Catholicism) and rebellious at the same time. I often had after school and weekend suspension, because I verbally fought with teachers a lot. Nevertheless, I did well, grade-wise. In 12th grade, I was the main American student representative during a cultural trip to China PRC in 1989 - - a very significant year. The Tiananmen Square Incident, in Chinese history, happened two weeks after I departed from Beijing. I believe I was a bit hypomanic during the trip. I had to give solo speeches, in both English and my small bit of Chinese, and a dance performance to groups of 50 to 100.

I was mostly fine at college (some occasional drinking issues), until my junior year. That year, I became depressed and cut my course load down to the minimum, and did somewhat poorly, despite. In my senior year, I was able to easily take 21 credits per semester and get good grades. I believe I was a bit manic most of that year, turning mixed through some of it. I was referred to a university psychiatrist, who stupidly prescribed Prozac. I stole my best friend's boyfriend and it became a sex fest. I lost about 12 lbs quickly, getting down to 117 lbs, which is quite underweight for me.

Q: Which years were your most stable years, beyond childhood?