I'm pretty sure my bipolar disorder began at 14 years old. It's been about 35 years since then, and 15 years since my official bipolar type 1 diagnosis. A few of the over 10 hypomanic/manic episodes I indicated above only reached hypomanic level, before returning to stable or switching to depression. Most, but not all, of my episodes that reached full blown manic included psychosis. Many of my hypomanic/manic episodes lasted several weeks (or even months, in a few cases), particularly before I was properly medicated. Since then, they usually last only a week or two.