Are you good at hiding/managing your symptoms, or do other people notice?

I'm good at hiding my depression for the most part. People don't really notice (except my pdoc and therapist). However, my old bosses at my last 2 jobs could tell when I was manic. They didn't know I was "manic" per se, but they noticed elevated mood, irritability, lack of sleep, etc..

In college, I would work in my research lab until 1 am, go to sleep, then come back at 4 or 5am. So, they would notice. I would also fight with people in the lab because I was irritable and angry.

[gayleggg]

I'm pretty good at hiding the depression, too, but not so with the manic episodes. Everyone notices them.

[gina_re]

Unmedicated and unstable...yes
Stabile...no
People were shocked at work when I told them I was.

[bipolar angel]

No one really knows. I'm well controlled with meds for long time. Depression totally hidden. Mild hypomania now...thy just think I'm a little hyper whn it happens,but I get all the work done.

Yes. In high school I thought I was letting out this big secret when I told one of my friends I was bipolar. It went a little something like this:
Me: I'm bipolar
Friend: I know.
Me: What?!
Friend: Everyone knows. Last month you were skipping around the hallways yelling "God sent me here to save you from the terrorists!"
Me: Oh. Right.

[Victoria'smom]

I don't know. I think they can tell somthing's off but not bp.

[Ocean Swimmer]

My friends only know when I remind them. They are in denial.

[1278]

Even though I'm completely unstable and on the verge of a breakdown, I've been hiding my symptoms well for most of my life, especially the suicidal ideation. No one can tell besides my parents because I live with them.

I think I'm good at hiding symptoms but people tend to notice and catch on eventually. So yep there is that.

[raspberrytorte]

I think they already know. The wrong person found out I have a situation and blabbed it to everyone at work. I'm pretty sure anyway.

Otherwise, no. I work with a lot of abnormal people. With my public facade I think I'm the most normal person there.

Not that I'm aware of. People closest to me clue in when I get really depressed mainly. I tend to be pretty high functioning right the point of utter collapse (as a teacher and a parent I just keep plugging along because I really don't have any choice). I rarely get actually manic (and when I do I'm usually in the hospital) so that isn't really an issue.

[Icare dixit]

I can tell with, I don't know, 70%—or in some cases much higher, accuracy, whether someone has had severe depressions or SZ or (some) BDP, at pretty much first glance, definitely some with BP, when they are completely stable and not so much just by talking to them. Same with ASD (but I might confuse SZ and ASD). Probably not when overmedicated and possibly not with the same accuracy those with BP-II (there just is quite some group I miss). Nothing to do with details: I don't see pretty much any.

It sounds delusional, of course clinicians have said it is (my current one doesn't even believe our empathic abilities are any good, ever, as in theory of mind; it's not something I share unless manic and of course my accuracy goes up to 100% , but really, it might), but it has been proven (not the accuracy so much, might one day do a real experiment).

We act. So do people with unipolar depression and ASD: always. We do it with much more finesse than those with ASD, but, paradoxically, that difference is sometimes hard to see.

Anyone else noticed this? Purely intuitively, of course.

In other words, I/we might make a more accurate diagnosis than most psychiatrists, in a minute or so. I don't know, maybe.

In other words, our theory of mind, more so towards the SZ end and maybe some subgroup, is (I'd say most likely) so very good that we translate per "type" of person. Problem is that the "translations" are not really very useful for correctly rationalising, where mistakes are made, being too confident about our ability to rationalise/express, considering it as good as our theory of mind.

People with ASD might have a similar ability based on details, equally prone to overconfident mistakes, but the other way round: abstracting/reducing or "derationalising".

Does this sound delusional, honestly?

Anyway, most people clearly see mood swings and changes in energy, in me.

Edit:
At any rate, most/all kinds of delusions start off, and/or contain, a lot of truth. Finding it just isn't always easy or "necessary": checks and balances being rather impaired.

Another edit:
Similarly, we might believe that others are conscious about what they do, how they act, exactly, in the greater scheme of things. That is clearly messing with the (delusional) truth: most people just do.

People without problems just float around freely, mostly unaware of anything, really.

Best to create problems: borderline personality or some nice anxiety disorder, maybe. Even if you're naturally gifted/endowed, like us.

Real freedom is not floating, but flying: going somewhere.

[pirilin]

When depressed , they notice. Hypo/manic I don't hide anything, I just don't care.
I GIVE 'EM HELL!!!.

[ComfortablyNumb5]

The only people that I think can tell are my brother and bf. I tend to take my dysphoria out on them or anyone around me for that sake. But they happen to be around me most often. My bf can definitely tell when I'm hypo because I talk non stop and don't sit still. The other day I was moving from the living room to bedroom every few minutes. I just couldn't make up my mind or get comfortable i guess lol

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[Standup2me]

I've only had one person who knew it without me telling her.
Her husband is BP, and she recognized it.
I hide it well

[BipolarMama31]

People notice my depression.
When I'm manic, I'm the best employee, the best mom and just an overall success (in their eyes).

It makes me feel like I want to be manic all of the time, because when I'm depressed, I'm failing. But they don't see the manic episodes as destructive like I do.

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[st0psign]

I'm generally pretty good at hiding both sides, when I'm manic every now and then I crack and the irritability shows through. I remember about a year and a half ago I had an appointment with an advisor and she could tell I was frantic, and asked if I was okay. I said yes, but later emailed her and told her what was going on and she was able to work with me a bit to lower the stress level I was experiencing.

[annielovesbacon]

I had a friend once tell me I reminded her of someone she knew who had bipolar.
Some people have caught on to my depressive episodes but tend to think my hypomanic episodes are just a result of me being weird. Which they kind of are

[zijax]

I'm very good at hiding it except when I have a string of angry outbursts

[Wanderlust90]

Not unless they know my dx. I'm very good at hiding depression, not so much hypomania but it's often a welcome change to the people around me, if I'm positively elevated they like me more, if negatively elevated I'm significantly more difficult to be around & have constant thoughts about how bad the world is & express those thoughts more often than not, that's when my partner tells me there's something wrong.

[hopeless2015]

I can't hide the depression it's kind of hard to hide it when I don't get out of bed and go to work for a week at a time or end up in the hospital 3 times in a year lol thankful to be stable right now

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[Row Jimmy]

Probably.......but it doesn't matter to me. Thinking about it just leads me to look over my shoulder.

I must hide it well because i've had two people complain to me about 'mentally ill people' and 'my relative must have bipolar she's so crazy.' When i worked i did have one woman ask me if i was depressed. I denied it and she said it seemed like i was depressed. People also ask my what my profession is so i guess they think i am a healthy employee. There's nothing to be gained by telling people so i don't volunteer the info.

[RomanJames2014]

I think I am good at hiding the symptoms since no one outside of my doctor's office belive that I am bipolar but as I get older the symptoms have become a little more severe and it's getting harder and harder to keep it as big a secret as I have.

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Originally Posted by apfei

There's nothing to be gained by telling people so i don't volunteer the info.

I feel the same way.

I guess I would tell my employer, but that's *only* if I'm on the brink of getting fired. (Basically I'd use it to save my own @ss!)