The comfort there is a lot more intimate. And we might have different types of bipolar.
You cannot go throughout your life believing that the disease will define who you are for the rest of your life. Because instead of being in control of it, you let it control you. That is what happens when you define yourself as bipolar, you let it control you.
Put it this way. When you introduce someone, would you say, "Hello, this is my friend ____, she has cancer." ? Probably not. People say, "She is bipolar" instead of "She has bipolar." It's not very nice to define a person purely by being bipolar. There are other qualities about her that she probably wants to flesh out to overpower the distinction that she is purely bipolar and will always be bipolar, and that will seem to her, like they're saying she can't be other things. It's a, "why can't they define me as an artist, or a movie-goer, or a soccer player?" Believe me, it's important to define her as other things.
The easiest thing for her to do, in order to feel normal and not bipolar, is to get off her medicine. That's called fighting for normalcy, whether you know it or not.
You have to understand the three sides of a bipolar personality:
1.. Mania: Oh my god, I feel great! I can't wait until I can do everything damn thing on my list of things to do because I'm going to be an astronaut/zoologist! And somehow have the time to become a famous rock star. Oh look, a building! I bet I can climb that!
You're excited that you got out of your depression because now you feel that you can do anything in the world! And some very successful people have done it because of this mania.
2. Hypomania: I'm depressed...but I feel like I can do things. I wonder where the knives are.
Having Mania and Depression at the same time is not good... There's a lack of impulse control usually, when you have this. This is the point that bipolar sucks rocks for me. Fortunately I have it under control.
2. Depression: Oh...I can't do this many things at once, how fucking lame of me, thinking that I could do all that. Stupid universe won't let me have all the time in the world. Might as well shoot my goddamn self. I'm a wasted resource on this world anyways. Need better population control...
That's sometimes what depression is like for people with this disease. Low self-esteem to the point where you can't get up. You're a useless piece of junk that can't accomplish anything because you're not normal. And "not normal" is usually replaced with the word "bipolar." When you're diagnosed.
I hope that gives a birds eye view.
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