Nothing can compare to the freight train of shame that hits you after your first manic episode, realizing that you've taken a sledgehammer to your life in a state of grandiose delusion, believing that you're building something great. And then, somehow you have to figure out how to put the pieces back together. You end up having to make a lot of apologies to friends and family for being literally crazy, taking the L in a big way tasting the bitterness of your own actions.
I'm assuming you understand the depression part, but Mania is a lot harder for others to comprehend. Your brain is basically redlining at 100% for weeks on end, you will rarely sleep if at all( you can actually go days without sleep without an issue in a manic episode), you're constantly ping-ponging between pseudorandom lines of thought, and you're animated by delusions of grandeur that make you think you can literally do anything and that you're special and/or the chosen one. This recipe of disaster left to cook for weeks on end can lead you to endless and novel ways of ruining your life.
I generally believe that psychiatry is 60% a scam pseudoscience racket to shove you with pills that barely work better than placebos, but the part where your brain goes haywire naturally if you're Bipolar and not on meds is objectively true. Going off meds is a big mistake most people will make at one point or another till they learn better.
End of the day it's a disease, and a pretty severe one at that. But its a disease that can be treated and treated effectively. If you have family that are bipolar, give them a hug or something, they've been through the wringer and hopefully have come out the other side a better person.
