T says because of my childhood abuse for so long she thinks its greatly affected me. I am dxd bipolar. However I came to realize yesterday that I have dealt with depression since my stepmother came into my life. I was happy-go-lucky but she broke me. I turned inward, scared of people/everything, no contact with outside world as it was forbidden and became depressed...reading books and wanting to be invisible or die...started when I was 8. Since then I have developed the worse anxiety, chronic worry and mood swings (bipolar). My T wants me to discuss Dysthymia with my Pdoc b/c she thinks I have/had it.

Can Dysthymis co-occur with bipolar disorder, or can it develop into bipolar?