I have bipolar disorder, which is a mental illness that causes periods of depression and mania.
I appreciate you sharing that with me. I realize it may affect how you live your life. I'm in social work and may have to deal with clients that may have that as part of their life, as well. Could you tell me more about it?
Sometimes when I am in my manic phases I feel abnormally energetic or irritable. 
That's great to know, so that I can have expectations and be able to react accordingly, and appropriately. What else would you feel comfortable sharing?
I also suffer from the periods of depression which includes a lot of crying and a negative outlook on my life. I generally think about how I am a terrible human being and that the world would be better off without me.
I see. Thank you for entrusting that information to me, and I'm sorry to hear some of the more negative qualities of what you go through. What do you wish more people would know?
long-term stress. About 85% of the risk is attributed to genetics. The condition is classified as bipolar I disorder if there has been at least one manic episode, with or without depressive episodes, and as bipolar II disorder if there has been at least one hypomanic episode (but no full manic episodes) and one major depressive episode. In those with less severe symptoms of a prolonged duration, the condition cyclothymic disorder may be diagnosed. If the symptoms are due to drugs or medical problems, it is classified
of the slanderous nature of psychiatric labeling that affected her reputation and threatened her very existence in the world. She believed that her depression was due to grief and feeling broken. She said, "When you have been told that your mind is unsound, there is a kind of despair that takes over..." In "The Loony Bin Trip", Millett wrote that she dreaded her depressed periods:
Personal life Mental illness Views on mental illness.
Millett disputed diagnoses and labels like manic depression (bipolar disorder) and schizophrenia,