Do you feel different from your friends?

I sometimes feel I can not relate to others who have not experienced bipolar/severe depression.

[BastetsMuse]

Originally Posted by ValentinaVVV

Do you feel different from your friends?

I sometimes feel I can not relate to others who have not experienced bipolar/severe depression.

Well, yes, I feel different from my friends. And my family, too. It scares me sometimes. Right now, for example, I am trying to come out of depression and it's hard to speak to friends and family about how that feels....

I agree. I am trying to stay ahead of my current depression by forcing myself to leave my bed. Normal people don't understand that.

[venusss]

I am different, but not just because of BP.

Then again, everybody is different. Everybody has experiences others didn't have and these shaped them. If you look at art creations... alleniation is not something uncommon. I guess many people feel that at some point. Some just feel it more often.

[gina_re]

I have felt "different" as far back as I can remember. Some of the stories my mom has told me from when I was young confirms some of my odd behavior.

[Anxiousvalkyrie]

As long as I can remember I've felt different, even from my friends. People have always called me 'eccentric', 'weird', or 'unique'. I've always felt like a bit of an outcast and have often felt ostracized or alone. My diagnosis has made me feel even more different than the people around me.

[mindwrench]

I do feel different from most everybody in my world. I tend to value and think the most of people who I think would not judge me, or abandon me if they knew my secrets. I don't know that I would ever put them to the test though, as I'd rather not lose them finding out.

I have very few friends, but the ones I have I think relate to me in so many ways. I tend to be drawn to people who I can identify with on multiple levels. We never have discussed mental illness or issues. But that's something that you just know. I purposely avoid my friends if I'm not doing well, or if I'm unstable and think I might decline in their presence. So I don't see them very often, but we connected well enough in the old days that we pick up where we left off after not seeing them for months or years.

I would even say that I have little interest in relationships with people who seem "normal" or well adjusted, as maybe I think they would realize I am messed up and not want me as a friend.

Now that I think about it, most of the people I consider friends have the same first name as me, same interests, same career. I have seen them melt down before, had one of them dismantle his office and throw it at me when I came to visit (he was apparently having a bad day). I just waited outside till things stopped flying out the door, then started picking stuff up and we sat on the hood of the truck and drank soda and laughed about it. I really should go see him again, it's been a few years.

Yes, I feel different....like an outsider. But, like Venuss said, we are all different and unique in our own way.

[Row Jimmy]

I've always been the "different" friend. I was the one who could party for days or the one who would disappear for days. I was always considered "odd" because I was never really steady and I didn't necessarily fit in, sort of like a circus act that people would stroll past to witness the madness and thus be able to add a conversation piece to their day.

At the same time, I never feel sad about it. I like who I am - I'm a loner now and I enjoy being alone. Looking back, I wish I would have done things differently but I didn't know any better back then.

[Row Jimmy]

Originally Posted by Anxiousvalkyrie

As long as I can remember I've felt different, even from my friends. People have always called me 'eccentric', 'weird', or 'unique'. I've always felt like a bit of an outcast and have often felt ostracized or alone. My diagnosis has made me feel even more different than the people around me.

But the diagnosis, for me anyway, is a gift because now I know what I need to do. I try to separate the diagnosis from the condition itself.

[Unrigged64072835]

I have been different for as long as I can remember. Shy, socially awkward, and blurts out stuff even when it's inappropriate. That's pretty much me. I don't have any IRL friends; the two I did have I just keep track of them on Facebook now. I find it easier to think and type first than to shoot from the hip.

[OctobersBlackRose]

Yes I feel different from everyone else it seems, not just because of BP, but because (now that I'm allowed to believe the DX again), I have an autism spectrum disorder (Aspergers type), my Mom and case manager don't believe that DX even though I've been tested and dx'ed with it (just waiting to have my records pulled out of the archive at the place I was seen at, which might take awhile, so I can prove that I do have it). But I do and have always been and felt different from other people, no irl friends, extremely socially awkward, among other issues. Some is relates to BP though, some related to ASD, so I'm just one awkward mess.

[Miss Laura]

Yeah my illness makes me stand out in my family as I'm the only one with it and a mental illness at that. My friends all work and live good lives because of this while I'm on disability and have no job just volunteering jobs. I feel our friendships are fake now as I have nothing in common with any of them anymore

Thank you for all the replies. I guess I am noticing this again because my Mother died 2 months ago. So now, it is just me and my younger brother and Dad in my FOO. So I have been hanging with them a lot because they are kind of NPD. They are missing the Mommy type of attention they got. (They would see me 24/7 if I didn't set boundaries.)

I am going through my own stuff. I feel things completely different from them. My dad has mentioned several times that I don't need my psych anymore or my meds. I ignore them. I am now, and have forever been the black sheep of the family. And you know what, that has always been OK.

[BipolaRNurse]

Although I have quite a few friends, I've always been about 15 degrees off "cool". I'm so uncool that I've become cool in my own way.