I come from a long line of manic/depressive people. Most of them until my generation were out of control alcoholics, my generation understood that there was a genetic component to the problem, and have found treatment that works. I do have one (out of the six siblings) that refuses to believe he has a problem, and the fallout in his life is quite dramatic. Mental illness can be a birth defect, or caused by trauma, or life experience. For some stupid reason, humans have decided that these kinds of problems should carry some kind of stigma. I hope it is just misunderstanding of it and not fear of the sufferers, I know that there is help available, but until the insurance community stops being able to decide what "one size fits all treatment"/ works for everyone, the problems will continue. Treating mental illness is a multi-approach science, until we stop trying to fix everyone with assembly line medicine, mental illness will continue to plague humans. I am very thankful for the doctors (plural) that have helped me out of the dark. I spent years unable to cope with the world because I was told that I was the problem, not that there might be a solution. Encouraging people to seek help, is my way of paying back the fates that led me to treatment. Life is great now, even with the occasional down day, anything is better than where I was. If you are getting help, please be patient. It took a while to find the MEDS that work for me, but I stuck with it, and now I am doing very well. I wish you all well and healthy.