how about anyone dealing with the religious zeal in this country? I am from Kentucky and from what I see in the media it seems to have become much more zealous than when I grew up there. I couldn't imagine moving back there. When are you guys going to vote out Mitch McConnell?

I'm fortunate I live in a blue state, so many people don't talk about religion. For myself I accept others beliefs and keep silent, but if the push hard I usually destroy them in a debate. Then I show them the bible scene from the west wing.

My brother was diagnosed at 19 with schizophrenia. He struggled and suffered through many hospitalizations, horrific effects of every drug, inhumane treatment from society and took his own life at age 34. I think about him every day. A brutal life. Mental health is every bit as important as physical health. It is a sad commentary on our culture that people have to feel ashamed. So thank you for bringing it up. It's like all of the "isms" that plague humanity around the world. I hope you can continue to manage your symptoms.

Not bi-polar, but I do have Borderline Personality.

As for how I handle religious zealots..... for the most part I ignore them.

I was diagnosed a few years ago.
It was news to me until I started reading up on it and recognized the symptoms and behaviors.

The psychiatrist my GP sent me to prescribed me Seroquel to take every night and it helped knock down the manic {mainly because it knocked me out} but the lows can be worse and longer lasting.

I've already attempted suicide in the past and was hospitalized a few years ago for deep depression and suicidal thoughts, sometimes out of nowhere a feeling of dread will wash over me.
So we're working on other things to help, he loves to hand out pills, but he's dead set against medical cannabis. Go figure.

I'm schizo-affective bipolar type. I don't have mania or extreme lows, I just get depressed a lot. I once was diagnosed bipolar 2. That got dismissed. I also have ADHD, depression, PTSD, and OCD. My OCD is not as bad. I just clean my living space really well, and shower 2x a day. Only if I work. If I'm off, then once a day. I wash my clothes every 2 days. I like having clean work clothes and lounge clothes. As well as workout clothes. I like to organize and I love that I am an efficient cleaner. My ADHD makes me hyper all the time. I have so much energy. I work really fast. I also can't sit still to read books as much anymore than when I was a kid. I go off the topic a lot. Since I'm an introvert at home, I talk a lot at work. I'm an ambivert. A little of both. I'm extroverted at work only. My PTSD doesn't affect me now. I don't hear voices or have disorganized speech or think I am god. I think I've been misdiagnosed because I'm not schizophrenic at all. I take Geodon at night and sleeping pills because I have insomnia. No one is perfect. I also live in an adult assisted living because my family won't give me a chance to live on my own again. I have been out a psych ward for almost 2 years now. On my birthday will have been 2 years. I will celebrate. That is something you learned about me. Oh, and I am very nice to people. Because people are assholes to me. I don't want to be like those people. I also have an inferiority complex. I get depressed at night, then go to bed and in the morning feel better again.

My sister and my best friend are.

And screw people who "don't like to talk about this"... Mental health is a real social issue.

Pete calls me up when he has an episode and explodes at his wife. He explains the situation and asks me who was right. I tell him what he has done right and wrong. He get's angry, screams and hangs up on me. No one apologizes. Eventually Pete thanks me for always telling him the truth and not what he wants to hear.

My sister is usually on the depressed side of the scale and interprets most things as passive/aggressive attacks on her and then responds to people in a passive aggressive way. I just treat her "passive peaceful". She is mad at me now and not on speaking terms since 5 weeks ago, but now things are slowly getting back to where we talk about concert tickets and the big things. Another few weeks and we will go back to acting as if nothing ever happened and as thick as thieves.

I've known bipolar people, but I don't have much real experience or knowledge of how to get through each day effectively.

My wife was bipolar. She eventually took her own life. I never really understood it until much later, but I noticed she had a hard time laughing or showing happiness. I believe her medication flattened her out.