I’ve been on a mood stabilizer for years along with an SSRI and I’ve never felt bipolar. I’m no longer with the doctor that prescribed the mood stabilizer so I can’t ask. He never said I was BP so that is sort of a clue.   

It seemed to be the last line of treatment for irritability and anger after everything else wasn’t quite helping fully. Also helps with depression. I also think it was because I wasn’t giving the other drugs a chance. I don’t know the exact term but I was trying to bounce between drugs to find the optimal one way too fast. 

I’m just wondering if anybody else has a had a similar situation. I would love to not be BP as all my symptoms fit anxiety disorder **way** better than BP but can be similar. The stigma and life expectancy of BP is also bad which triggers my anxiety. I’ve done some reading about this and did find some similarities to what I’m going through.