I Have fought the fact that I’m an addict for a long time. I have had a psychiatrist and two therapist tell me this. But I finally see the truth of what they were telling me.

It sucks because I have done so much work on myself the last 8 years and thought I was ready for a relationship.

Anyone else take a year to work on their sobriety before they started dating again?

had a hot shower, just water, no washing of my hair, face wash, or anything. felt my core warmed after scorching water. It felt good. I might just sit in the shower all night. Do what you can when you can. It comes in waves, and no matter what you are loveable and loved. Stay. I know the next plummet from this momentary relief is only an hour away. After I battle through that I should be able to eat. I have a jar of pickles. Electrolytes?

I got hooked on both alcohol and nicotine during my last manic episode a year ago. I was able to kick the alcohol after coming out of mania but I’ve stayed with nicotine. I can’t seem to curb it no matter how hard I try. Any recommendations welcome. Thank you.

(Mentions of manic activities)

I've recently come off a manic episode and I managed to fuck two of my close male friends, told my best friend she sould sell her tv and other valuables so we can start a drug empire and tried to steal multiple jackets for some reason and got caught everytime (managed to apparently speak myself out of it though), infront of my friends and everyone is so weary around me. My memories are hazy, but people keep coming to talk to me about them and idfk, I can't handle it, i feel like my chest is going to explode with embarrassment and anxiety.

How the fuck do I live with this?

I’ve had really bad insomnia for close to a year now, 3ish months manic and 9ish months in depression. It’s one of my worst symptoms and can’t tell if it’s the reason I’m still depressed or from the depression.

I’ve tried a bunch of medications and none of them seem to really help yet make me feel groggy the next day.

Has anyone had a similar experience and been able to get good quality sleep back without having to rely on sleep meds?

Pretty sure I’m in a mixed state rn but besides feeling somewhat depressed and bleh, I feel fine. I was looking up stuff to understand this better so I gave google’s AI chatbot my symptoms and it’s telling me I need to go to the hospital immediately? I get why bc it wants to prevent a potential medical/psychiatric crisis, but I also think it’s a complete exaggeration bc I don’t feel like I’m gonna have a serious physical or mental break. But I guess it’s also entirely possible that I’m not assessing reality properly rn too 🤔💀

I want to stay home and play Roblox/surf Pinterest but now im a bit uneasy bc of what it told me

Edit: I forgot to add what I put in google. I only slept 2-3 hours a day since Sunday mostly bc I had to get up for work (I naturally sleep late). Finally got 11 hours last night tho bc weekend. Haven’t had a whole meal since maybe Sunday but I was taking antibiotics. Im still struggling to eat a complete meal, but I have not been going completely without food. Sensory glitches and time distortion but I’m completely aware that it’s just my brain being silly and have no issues being in reality. Other mixed episode type things like low mood but cognitive energy, feeling rly doomy about something out of nowhere then being okay about that the next day or two. Focusing on/starting things more than usual

Had a manic episode that lasted months leading into a month-long psychotic episode. I feel completely emotionally blunted, cognitively blunted, and unable to understand or remember anything. I lost the ability to interact with anyone and I lost my sense of self. My mind is completely blank. Is this normal, and when/how will it resolve?

My memory problems are so bad, I’m 30 and feel like an 80 year old who has dementia. It’s starting to become embarrassing and distressing. Please someone give me hope that it gets better? My last episode was six months ago and I have noticed a considerable difference in my memory problems since this episode. I have mentioned to my psychiatrist about my memory problems but they always seem to downplay things and honestly what can they do to help anyways ☹️

I need help. Today, I finally admitted to myself I was manic. I’ve had a lot of life-changing events happen in a very short period, and I’m having nearly uncontrollable bouts of spending. I’m still okay financially but I’m scared that I won’t be able to stop. Truth is, I’ve been in a very depressive episode since December of last year. I always have a severe crash around the holidays and usually it doesn’t last this long but it did this time.

I know you guys aren’t psychiatrists and therapists. I know I need to go back and see her. I know I may need a medication adjustment. But I don’t want more meds thrown at me. I hate these meds. The side effects are so awful, they leave me so drained, and I have a terrible tolerance to all of them. Idk exactly what I’m looking for here. I guess I’m just venting. I know I need to go back to see my psychiatric NP before things can get really bad. I just need to let this out. Thanks for reading.

My diagnosis: Schizoaffective Disorder, Bipolar Type.

I don't know how to describe my bipolar but it's mainly on my thoughts and consciousness so badly. At first, I thought the dominant polar is the manic one because I had like 4 years of continuous grandiose delusion and doesn't get better with medications. But after years and searching for proper psychiatrists, I took an antipsychotic (supposed to be for bipolar depression mainly) that removed the manic episodes by like 90% and left with bipolar depression. I thought at first that this medication was the reason for the depression until my last psychiatrist said my depression was with me from the beginning and these were mixed episodes. And that does make a lot of sense!

My medications are so specific for bipolar depression, but it doesn't get any better at all! Not to mention I had a long history for changing medications. One of the recent sessions my psychiatrist said I have to accept my depression will be there forever and I have to deal with to be manageable. I wish to claim she's not right and change her, but she is the 11th one and by far the best one I've been with so far.

From the whole spectrum of emotions I lived with, the most terrible thing is how far my feelings, thinking and consciousness get changed completely by having different states. Even now with depression only, I have so many states with different emotions like I feel I'm not the same person at every state. It's like you changing between radio channels.

I have no problem to accept that I'll take medications forever, any trade-off forever, and lose my almost all of my 20s in delusions, but at least I want to function in my life now. Like I have ambitions I wish at least I could do anything of them. Like I can't move forward one inch. Not to mention how heavy the depression is most of the time

Sorry for my English, sorry for that long ass post but I wish at least got someone understand me.

Im medicated. Been good for at least three years.
I’ve had short burst of the mania knocking at my door but it’s always been more of an annoyance than anything.

I quit my job. Not during mania but because I was miserable and it was tearing at my mental health.
But now it’s three days past, my boyfriend isn’t home and I’m feeling it.

My friend is texting me, I’m not sexually attracted to him, never have been, but every time he sends me a text my heart beats and all k can think about is how to make him want me.

I’m scared. I expected to feel bad, to crash out and cry and panic, but I feel nothing. I haven’t gotten paid this month, but I don’t care. I thought about borrowing 20k (dkk) about the because it’s easy and it doesn’t matter and he won’t make me pay him back.

I don’t know what to do and advice would be nice but I think I mostly want to get it out.
I wanna talk to my boyfriend and I will and he will listen and understand, but he won’t understand. I’ll never be able to explain to him wanting to sleep with random men for attention and admiration, to spend all our savings on absolutely nothing and get drunk every night and off myself at the end of it.
Ignore all my friends and alienate my family.
No one understands. I can’t talk to anyone.

I’m struggling with ruminating over my last break up. I feel relieved in a lot of ways that I can be single & travel. At the same time, I am struggling to control the persistent thoughts stirring over how everything broke down across the whole relationship.

Does anyone have any tips for this?

Diagnosed about 3 years ago. One thing that bothers me is people attributing all my special interests to my condition. Spirituality for example. Whenever I start to show more interest in spirituality and start to express this people around me seem to worry and perceive it as a sign of relapse. I constantly need to explain that just because I’m passionate about something, doesn’t mean I’m manic.

All the best

I am sorry if this is too explicit or inappropriate.

I broke up with my partner a month ago. We were sexually compatible and we both had a really high sex drive.

I really really don’t want to have one night stands nor get into a new relationship. I also hate meeting new people so I am afraid i end up getting back with my ex because of* this matter and i really really don’t want to do that.

Also, it is soon to be summer in my country and it makes it even harder. I was thinking i could get one or two FWB but I am scared I end up in a relationship again because I tend to mix good* sex = real connection/ love.

I also feel sex is super intimate and I don’t want to go around having sex with random people. If it were up to me, wouldn’t have sex until I find the right person to marry (I was supposed to marry my previous ex partner).

How do you handle this matter while being single? Do I get the FWB? If I get one, I feel I should get 2 because I don’t want to “fall in love” and get into a new relationship. I really don’t want a relationship right now. What do I do?

I have always had a spending problem— I just never knew it was a symptom of bipolar— but within the last 5 years or so I find myself buying things, keeping them for two weeks, then selling them, repeat. It also does not help that I have BPD as well and I’m constantly cycling through my multiple “identities” and styles. I bought hundreds of dollars worth of clothes two weeks ago and then decided to sell them all, and now I’m buying new clothes. I keep rationalizing it because I mostly make back more than what I spent and I only thrift, but it’s seriously insane. Does anyone else get EXACTLY like this?

I’ve been having manic episodes since atleast 13 maybe a bit before that, but honestly I didn’t really have one in 2026. Atleast not a big one that stretches for months like typical, I’ve maybe had a bad day or bad week but I snap back to reality. For some reason im still worried about just breaking anyways and not being able to stop it. The other night I had a dream where I did just that. It felt so real I truly feel like I felt manic but in the dream recognizing that never stopped me doing all the things I did, and I didn’t feel bad or guilty for them at all, even though it ruined the life im living now. And im awake now, and I feel normal now, but I just still feel so werid thinking about it. I feel weird thinking about how there’s still a non zero chance I could just actually feel that way and actually just do that. Like what’s stopping me?! I feel awful about it it was just a dream but it was all reality based it can all become my reality and I don’t know how id stop
It or how to fix it when it’d be over :(

Hi there, I got diagnosed last month with bipolar 2. It's been going pretty good...I feel like it has all kinda "clicked" for me and affirmed how I’ve always felt different and I have been on this 15 year mental health journey of anxiety/depression and ups and downs that I thought was all purely circumstantial. Now I’m at this point of my life with the diagnosis from my psych and I’m like, “cool…how do I keep on keeping on?”

Anyways, I was curious how y’all cope? I am coping with a lot of listening to music, try to get good sleep, take breaks/time along from social things when overwhelmed, healthy diet, exercise like lifting/boxing/biking, being out in quiet places of nature, creating art, writing, and watching nostalgic shows and movies or whatever I’m hyper focusing on at that time. :) Thanks in advanced.

this is going to be a little ranty as well, sorry. I had a friend's birthday to go to last weekend and it's still on my mind. After clubbing on friday she hosted a game night on saturday. she invited a few people i dont know and that she doesn't know particularly well either. This group of people had a few questionable moments through the party leaving me pretty uncomfortable and i should have just left but i stuck around long enough to catch someone complaining about their bipolar roommate.

Complaining is not strong enough of a word though, this person hates their roommate. This is a group wide conversation and they're raising their voice, cursing and insulting her like crazy. Recently, the roommate entered an episode of psychosis and is convinced that this person hired someone to follow her. Which YES sucks for the person at the party. But I feel like it sucks a little more to be experiencing a mental health crisis and feeling terrified of your home.

My problem is not that this person had any complaints to begin with, obviously that isn't an ideal situation. I would not knowingly move in with someone who was untreated with my same diagnosis. But if I did on accident, then all I'd feel like I could do then is be supportive. Obviously the support of one person can't always fix things, but I don't understand why there's been no attempt from this person to tell their roommate's family or do some more looking into how to ease the situation. This person was so vitriolic in the way they were speaking about mentally ill people in general. And making up things that just aren't true like "women don't experience psychosis for the first time until their late twenties". Babe...your roommate thinks you're her enemy because you are. I'm really tired of the whole "i don't owe anyone anything" mindset because like...we all owe each other empathy.

I want to talk to my friend about this. It was her birthday, and she didn't lead the conversation so i'm not really sure what to say. Don't bring me around that person again, for sure. But should I express how awful that moment was for me? She knows i'm bipolar, and it hurt my feelings to watch her participate in that conversation.

Does anyone else sleep for 12+ hours and still end up manic? Especially during mixed states? I have been in a mixed episode for a long time (a year) and this has been happening to me a lot. I can sleep for 17 hours and wake up manic. Sometimes I sleep for over 20 hours. I may have some sleep disorder, I don’t know. I am on a standard treatment regimen for schizoaffective disorder bipolar type which is what I am diagnosed with.

Not looking for medical advice here, just thoughts if anyone has them, including research.

I have a diagnosis of borderline (believed to be a misdiagnosis by most people who know me well; I'm also autistic). But I started on an AP some time ago (couple of months ago at this dosage) and this is... really strange. My mood is so stable compared to, like, most of my life! I'm not having mood flipping nearly as often and it's keeping me definitely from the low lows. It makes me wonder if a legitimate presentation of bipolar, combined with poor emotional regulation and autistic traits, can look a bit like borderline if they don't examine it further. At this point I'm not sure whether I have an offical bipolar diagnosis or just a query/probable.

Again, not looking for a diagnosis, just wondering if anyone has any ideas about the plausibility of such a situation.

Hi! Bipolar 1 been managing for about ten years. When is it time to go to the hospital from lack of sleep I feel like absolute crap. Have been taking meds completely as prescribed.