I like the rollercoaster going through thorns idea. It would translate well to a t-shirt.
I'm also pretty bitter about having this disorder. Mine originates from bad events as well. I don't know how much of my problem has to do with what happened & the resulting ptsd (I have that dx too) or how much it has to do w/ bipolar disorder. Where does one end and the other begin? But I'm thinking too much and I want to stay focused on a symbol.
The reason I thought of all this - about the symbol - was because my local bipolar peer group is having trouble - the organizer resigned and we are scrambling for funds to keep going. The ideas we had ranged from coming up w/ a symbol to holding a garage sale. No one has acted on anything yet. It's very frustrating. I'm afraid of losing my group.
I was looking at a design book for ideas and noticed that a mobius strip can look like an infinite rollercoaster. That's how this got started. I am appriciative (sp?) of everyone's response.