Perhaps so or perhaps not. The brain is a pretty complex organ and reacts in unique ways to various stressors. Sometimes even what seems like psychosis isn't bona fide psychosis. In the past I had psychosis-like events/periods and used to wonder "Are they related to my BP? Related to some seizure activity? Related to stress/trauma? Related to some dissociative experience (often related to trauma/stress)? Other?" I asked those questions primarily because I did not feel I was manic or severely depressed during some. When I am manic, it is usually quite obvious to others, and in many of the odd-ball cases above, mania wasn't suspected. That's not to say I didn't have 100% sure psychosis attributed to some past manias.

I am a true believer in bipolar disorder as a spectrum disorder. I also believe many factors in life/experiences can affect the brain in unrelated ways to the very limited term "bipolar disorder". My mental health experiences have had some similarities to others', but also a number of differences. My experiences have fit the DSM-5 criteria for bipolar disorder type 1, but occasionally weird "other stuff" doesn't quite. I am with those who do like a diagnosis of sorts to work from, but I also see the merit of doctor approaches where they consider just symptoms and avoid labels.