Bipolar disorder is a Gift I'm not clinicially depressed, and I'm not on medication. It does run in my family, and I have been down some really dark roads in my life, which stemmed from certain situations I have created. Now, the reason I consider myself bipolar is because i did some research and i have a lot of the symptoms, i have some OCD and i definitely have ADD. (but don't we all really anymore with the overload of information and constant stimulation) I may not be diagnosed by a doctor, but my family's past is proof enough for me. (i'm explaining all this, by the way, to give some validity to what this topic is about, not to get anyone to feel sorry or all that). My great-grandmother underwent shock treatments, my father used to lock himself in his room on the weekends to be alone in his twenties, my older brother needs to be alone, my mom is on medication and my sister is with anxiety meds and in my teens and still today i prefer to be alone myself. And my family is not close we are very dysfunctional. Alright, so with that being said (and if anyone else wants to go into their life that would be cool get an idea of where we're all coming from) I think being bipolar is a gift. When everything is going great for me, i'm not depressed and i'm extremely happy and passionate about life and totally enjoying myself, doing my macro photography, making music, no worries pretty much, life is great. But even then, while i'm not in the dark depths of depression, i still am angry. Not hateful, just angry passionate - constantly seeing the things in this life that i can't stand (politicis, money, blah blah blah). So the happiness is like an escape, as if it's not really me being happy. But when i'm depressed, which luckily hasn't been too much recently, i am angry, i am just totally in a place dark and all i want to do is end it all, and all of that. I find it much easier to tap into those dark places, the tragic stuff, the angry stuff, than i find it easier to be happy and write happy. So I think my mental curse is a gift. Now, maybe there's no such thing as bipolar and we are who we are, but whatever the case may be, i know i have issues and i accept that, i dont want to medicate myself because i enjoy using them to express myself and stop keeping things all inside. I hope this makes sense. Would be interested to hear the views and varied thoughts from others!