it. For me, it's more like "manage the effects of it" in my life as I see it just like anyone might approach any other disease.

Right now (for the past couple of years) I am prescription-free and doing well without counseling. It does not mean I don't have bad days, though.

I have found a decent balance between diet, sleep, alone time, social time, work, play, prayer and service that seems to be effective for me. In the past, medication and counseling seemed to help more. I feel very blessed to have gotten to this point; it wasn't long ago that I was really wondering if I'd make it thru the next day - I really just wanted it all to be over.

One of the keys for me was understanding that it's okay to be me (as horribly flawed as I may be) and to have things that aren't quite right, that there were things I couldn't overcome alone and that it was okay to not only seek and accept help, I had to be okay with even needing the help. It was a rough process but once I got to that point, the fog lifted easier for me.

One thing that really hampered me from addressing it earlier in life was the fact that my family did not talk about it despite it running rampant thru one half of my extended family. It wasn't until I was about 27 or 28 and found out the details around my great grandmother's suicide that I started asking some questions and saw how much it had affected our family and simultaneously been (largely) ignored by uncles, aunts, parents and grandparents.

It's a real issue, the stigma attached to it seems to have diminished a little (at least in my circle/family), and I watch my children vigilantly for the signs and warnings that they may be experiencing the same types of things I experienced.