Agreed, you have every right to rant!

I to have encountered many people that think they are helping by denying the existence of the disorder (anything mental health realted for that matter). I too thought that it was a load of garbage, and then things got worse for me. My denial was due to being in the middle of the illness. At that point in my life I did not know about the family that had been hospitalized...

I have had people who argued up and down that there was nothing wrong with me, and that I was "making it up". If I was making it up, why was I out of control. I mean I just loved sitting in a room staring at the walls listening to voices tell me to end it all. The paranoia that I was the center of an ivestigation or a plot (leading me to only leave the house for work). I also adored getting the collection calls because I could not pay the bills I had reacked up (and no recolection of doing so). The substance abuse, the self loathing. I could go on and on.

I would like nothing more than to rid myself of my diagnosis. I wished beyond all hope that I was not bipolar. I want nothing but to be "normal". But I must live in the real world, where there is no denying the fact.

If I am not one of the many living with this disorder, then why do I identify with all that I have talked to. Why does the medication help. Why would my doctor's try so hard to not make that diagnosis... looking for anythig else that could be the problem (as something is wrong).

If only there were a test that could prove or disprove the disorder. But we are not there yet. Keep strong, I share your plight (tho we each have our own specifics).

You are among friends here, so rant away! You are just saying what many of us feel.