i feel so alienated from other people because of my diagnosis. i don't really know how to talk to my friends and family about my experiences because the only reactions i get are either people 1) blaming all my emotions on having an episode and asking me if i'm remembering my meds or 2) telling me that bipolar is "just part of who i am" and that everybody's neurotic and it's not a big deal. i don't feel like bipolar is "just part of who i am" because i feel like it's a disease that forces me to act a certain way sometimes and when i'm having an episode i don't feel like i'm the one choosing to act that way, it doesn't feel like me. i don't know how to explain to people that bipolar is a chronic illness that it effects my quality of life in a really profound way but that i'm a whole person outside of it too. idk. i just feel very isolated from other people and like the distance is sometimes insurmountable, it's so hard to make myself understood. do any of you also feel this way? how do you deal with the feelings of loneliness? how do you maintain relationships when it's so easy to be misunderstood?