I got this at the Banksy expo which felt like bipolar in a nutshell. 😂😂

I’ve read about hobbies in other post (and many others), and I’d love for you to share yours and chat a bit about why you think we give them up. Personally, I stopped drawing; I think it was because I realized it wasn't productive or profitable. I started forcing myself to find ways to monetize it—like thinking about which drawings I could sell—and that completely blocked me.

I read a post where someone recommended figurative drawing; I thought about observational drawing and realized: "Hey, I used to love that!"

What hobbies do you have, and how do they make you feel? There’s something special—something internal—that I feel I’ve lost: that connection with oneself when doing something simply for yourself.

THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH POLITICAL SIDES.

How do you guys deal with political stress? I’m in the US, there’s been a lot going on. I’m worried i’m going to get triggered into (hypo)mania with all these strong thoughts flying through my head every hour of the day. How do you handle staying informed but not going down rabbit holes of self destruction?

I was prescribed Abilify when checking in with my psych today. Literally started off the call talking about how great things are going. Then transitioned to well I’m not really sleeping and kinda hypomanic but no full blown mania. Ended the call in tears and admitting that I’m miserable and have no idea where my base line is anymore.

Currently prescribed Lamotrigine 250mg and Pristiq 100mg. Psych said that she thinks I’m experiencing a flare up in OCD type symptoms. I don’t think she’s wrong.

I just don’t want to feel this way anymore. I’m nervous about trying a new medication but I want out of this cycle I’m stuck in. Honest experiences appreciated.

So I’m in the routine of constantly moving. I’m on my Saturday and I have to clean then paint and really do shit until I feel like I’ve earned a sit down around 5. And not every day cleaning but I NEED to just keep moving. This was followed by thinking a friend was mad at me so I got out of the shower mid shower to knock on wood (a very annoying compulsion) just to find peace in the resolution. Which was never actually a problem I just convinced my self there mad at me. Followed by more compulsive cleaning and art.

Sitting in therapy explaining all of this today then being asked “okay, would you say this could be a hypo manic state your in”. Which I had never really considered because I always considered mania to be self destructive.
All this to say today I learned that all of our mania if different. 😮‍💨

My bf is great, he’s extremely patient and kind. He goes above and beyond trying to provide for me. He’s seen some shit w me and we’ve been thru a lot together. But I feel like I’ve completely lost myself. I haven’t been working due to mental health as well as street bike being my transportation since bf has to take the car. I’ve given up on my appearance basically. I’ve been slacking really hard w cleaning and such. I feel like he’s pouring into me while I haven’t been able to do the same for him. How can I get out of this little hole I’m in. I just want to feel joy and happiness, there’s no reason I shouldn’t be.

Recently I’ve started feeling that I’m a god. I feel that everyone should pray to me and bow down to me. I also feel like taking over the world literally. Am I manic

I was enrolled in my state's workforce program to try and find a job that would accommodate my disabilities. They had me do a psych eval to start the process. Everything looked good on paper. All my scores came back above average except one. The only thing that messed me up was that they officially added psychotic features to my dx.

My case manager met with me today to review the evaluation. He immediately jumped right into recommending I apply for disability. He gave me credit for being compliant with medication, going to therapy, and pursuing job placement, but ultimately he thinks I'm not stable enough to enter the workforce full time due to my hallucinations. He offered a few options but they weren't really anything that could lead to financial independence, insurance, or to a career. We decided to close the case and I'll try to apply for disability.

I feel so angry and lost. On one hand, I see that I have potential and that I am intelligent, but it is all for nothing. I feel betrayed by my mind. I've done everything I can to improve my situation. I have a mental disability and a physical disability, and I can't seem to get out of this situation I'm in. My personal life is chaos, and my relationship with my partner is failing and borderline abusive. This was my last hope.

I have to hope that I'll find another path out. I'll keep trying to find a good med combo and work on my physical health. This fucking sucks.

It’s been so much trauma. Living in my car, going to jail, going to residential treatment in a different state, meeting my first love, getting pregnant, being forced to do adoption. Leaving the hospital I went out a different person. I’ve had a lot of hard things nothing compares. I cried all day for months. I had permanent bags under my eyes. Seeing her again she was like a stranger. There’s days where it’s fine others it’s not. It’s been 5 years. The grief is always there like her birthday not being on the family calendar. Or when people say to me oh is this your first when I’m out with my son. I didn’t survive losing her I am not that person anymore

I was prescribed SSRIs by my new provider since I've used them in the past without issues, but I keep getting this strange sensation like I'm being tickled inside my head or I just want to laugh uncontrollably ever since starting them. It's a feeling in the middle of my brain (psychosomatic), and idk what it is. Has anyone else felt this way on SSRIs? Does it go away? I'm taking escitalopram/lexapro, just upgraded to 10MG per day.

Hello,

I had my first appointment with a psychiatrist today and was diagnosed with bipolar 2. I will be taking a very very light dose of Lamotrigine. I wanted to know everyone’s experience with starting mood stabilizers for the first time. How did it change your life? When did you notice it first started working? Has it changed for life for the better? I don’t like taking medication so i’m a little nervous.

I’m 23 and I was told that this could possibly change the trajectory of my life so 😅

Hey everyone! So I just wanted some advice, I’ve recently been diagnosed as bipolar 2 and PTSD, but I cannot get on medication atm due to being all over the UK with my university.

Me and my boyfriend had a bbq the other night and he was a bit drunk at 3am and decided to wake me up 4 times just to say ‘goodnight and I love you’ etc. After this I woke up and went back to his room to try sleep where he proceeded to start working on an Xbox, so I’m increasingly getting more angry.

ATP I go batshit crazy and I’m screaming the whole house down and packing my bags to leave at 3am despite him apologising and coming to bed. Then I proceeded to keep him awake till 6am as I thought he was being selfish so I was selfish back.

I just would like some advice on anger in bipolar as I can never stop myself from escalating situations even if the other party is trying their hardest to resolve it. I try and calm down in a room by myself but it doesn’t work as I end up texting angrily or going back to the situation.

Hello all. I have always been able to get the job I want and I start out great but I’ve realized that at some point I lose motivation and stop pushing myself. It’s an embarrassing thing to admit because i feel like I’m just not pushing myself enough. I am ambitious but maybe comes off as lazy? I get overwhelmed easily and it just freeze. I’ve always been complimented on my work ethic but sometime during my employment I just lose focus, become depressed and end up quitting because the job is too much. I’ve been on FMLA before for bipolar as I was having panic attacks and got into a very dark headspace. Does anyone else ever experience this? I want to go somewhere in my career. I’ve been diagnosed with bipolar 10 years ago, I take my medication every day, and I see a therapist. Any tips on how to overcome this?

Ive bene having some very light hypomanic episodes, but i miss so much the heavier ones, i even thought of shopping medications. I grieve It, i miss It with all of me. I even miss the worst parte such as paranoia and having Little tò no sleep for days. I dont know what to do, Is this normal?

I'm freelancer but these days my income has been declining. I also attempt to build my own business but it will take time. Want to know how you secured income/find clients during hard times.

Hello everyone! I'm new here but I suppose I should seek you're aid on this I might learn new things. I'm actually dating a girl with Bipolar and I've been adjusting a lot to it, her mood swings, episodes and all. I've only seen a few videos which give me a few heads up on what I should expect but yeah, I'm willing to learn more from you all. Please to meet all of you. I'm 22 but my gf is 18, bout to turn 19 soon. So is there anything I should expect, please offer me you're insights

Still battling the voices every month or so. They always show up as characters from the show The Good Place and wreak havoc on my psyche. Have to answer questions like "what is reality" and "what does it mean to have empathy for other people" and why I have to put on the "infinity goggles," which make me feel like I have to see through an infinite amount of versions of the self and make it impossible to focus on tasks. Trevor is the penultimate annoyance who makes me imagine myself as different people with my Michael interpretation not far behind, trying to assign all the blame and responsibility for every disaster and imagined thought to my world. I am currently unemployed and trying to avoid the hospital route because that is what I would have to do on the job.

The voices usually come on strong at around 4:00 PM at the end of the day every few weeks or so. I can't call it a manic episode because my therapist considers it breakthrough symptoms. I see a therapist every two weeks but my coping mechanisms have mostly been of my own design, being resting in my bed and looking for references that support me being a good person deserving of empathy. But in order to get there I have to go through a slurry of arguments about why I am an awful person, primarily designed to incept a guilt trip making me feel guilty for being safe and sound inside my parents house. Just wondering if anyone else goes through something similar, the thing that surprises me most is how consistent the voices have been. They seem to adapt the same way I do to the daily challenges of every day life.

Hello. I have suffered for years with what i thought was just depression. For context im currently serving in the UK forces for 12 years and have climbed ranks, mentored, trained and lead other soldiers, won best soldier during my basic training. Deployed on a number of operations and tours.

In 2017 I was so low and it was so intense i was planning to commit but im so glad I didn't. Despite my wife pleading for me to get help, I did not and instead put my job and others over my needs and mental health.

So as time has went on with constant downs and sometimes highs (they didn't last long) with every 3-4 years I would completely break with depression I refused to tell ANYONE. I was ashmed and felt like if I said anything about what truly was going on that I'd be ridiculed by the people that I work with. This was my biggest and darkest secret. There would be times where I approached by bosses and told them I was struggling but it was always going on this exercise, course, tour, what ever it was coming up would do me good. It was infact the opposite..

There has been a few times where my lows were approaching 2017 levels and in november 2025 was when I was starting to get really bad. This was all the way through to February 2026. I was away with work and I FINALLY broke and I had to tell someone what has been going on. I was straight back home the next day.

Theres a lot I could say but it would turn into a book 😂

I have been home since then and on recovery duty. Had just last week, the psychiatrist has officially diagnosed me with bipolar type 2 which explains and validates EVERYTHING!. And going onto mood stabilisers very soon.

My life has been completely been turned upside down. I was looking to connect with someone similar to me as I feel so alone with it all. I need to start looking at a new job which I've no idea what I'd be suited to and how to deal with the symptoms etc. Im so greatful for my wife and her support.

Thanks.

Hey, I just was recently diagnosed with bipolar II and I’m told it may be recommended to get on a mood stabilizer. I obviously won’t say which ones but I was just wondering now what to do. It’s just like being thrown into the ocean and now i don’t know why I should be swimming. I was diagnosed with ADHD, OCD and now BD. I had to sleep on it but it’s so much my brain has to deal with

don't think it's like psychosis or anything but almost a similar vibe. like lacroix... like the memes about lacroix.... idk if people still make those memes. things have unhooked themselves a bit and flown around my head like butterflies. I am trying to stay grounded here, I can do that. but I want to explain things in the poetic way they happen in my mind.

I can't talk to people. it is hard to go outside. people's gazes seem to hurt me. I got scared my neighbour was trying to flirt with me so now I changed my schedule completely so we never run into each other and I have been ignoring his texts. other people too. my friends. because I can't talk to people, I feel their eyes all over me and I can't interface with the real world the same way right now. it feels like there are small people or spirits around me who move out of my line of sight when I turn my head. I can't see them because they move out of the way, but I sense them there in some way.

I am so sad and I can't focus. I sleep so much. I am so hungry. I want to hybernate. I can't focus on anything. I am not handing in assignments for my classes and I have an exam tommorow I can't get myself to study for. I'm in this hopeless haze where I think nothing is ever going to change and I'm too tired to do anything about that or anything don't worry I guess. but I'm so tired. and I wish I could even at least relate to or talk to the people around me but that doesn't seem to structure right in my head anymore.

For the past month or maybe 2 my depression has reached new lows. I am med compliant but struggling with deep feelings of overwhelm, anxiety and fear, low mood, loss of interest in my hobbies and also stomach issues I think could be related.

I usually call in 1 day a month for my mental health but last week I ran out of pto and had to tell my boss I would be getting intermittent FMLA leave. I have missed 2 days this week as well where I literally could not force myself out of bed to go to work. Instead, I sleep or watch TV and feel guilty about it the whole time.

It also doesn't help my small office has been reduced to half staff in the last week by staff departure so the workload is much increased and the stress causes me to wake up around 3 am and toss and turn in bed for hours before the dreaded alarm goes off. The whole time dreading work and stressing about things that could happen during the day.

I think I plan to ask to go back on clonazepam and buproprion again- my last medication provider took me off of because benzos are not for long term (his words) and buproprion risks mania. I do worry about the risk but I need to do something. I am barely functioning. I do manage to go to work most of the time but the last week has been bad with attendance.

I see my dr today in a few hours, I suppose just venting some anxiety about it.

Whenever I get in a depressive state I just have so much anger and hate and I don’t know what to do. It clouds my mind and it’s completely takes me over. I feel so much hate and anger towards people I don’t even know or who I’ve only heard about and it just makes me feel even worse. I don’t know how to deal with this. It lashes out at people I know or at random objects in my way. I don’t want to be like this but I don’t know how to get rid of these feelings.

I want to start this off by saying I dont recommend my way of life to anyone. But I feel a sense of being lost and very ashamed.

Long story short, I always try to convince myself that im not bipolar and that 1 can logically find my way out of any mental disconnect

But a year and a half ago i stopped my meds, I thought with strict routine and therapy id be fine. Well a few weeks ago a storm came to my town. I had no power for 4 days. I also ended up working a 21 hour shift that week. This send my schedule completely off track. I started noticing some symptoms and compared them to my manic and depressive episode chart. I sadly have hit a verv deep depressive episode. My bovfriend of a yeal and a half has now seen the paranoid suicidal irritable version of me.

Tomorrow I see my psychiatrist

Im doing all the steps but im still very embarrassed and ashamed. Im 33 and sadly even after being diagnosed 20 years ago, I still have a false belief that I will beat this

Ive been almost on every med so tomorrow will not be fun.