GothicChick, i'm sorry no one responded right away. I think we just don't feel qualified to have an opinion on this, and rightly so... you're talking about diagnosis, and diagnosis should
ONLY be done by
professionals and not even by your parents! You are not bi-polar just because someone near you suggests it.
I take it you are a teenager, probably. Many diagnosis are not appropriate to give to teenagers because you are still growing and changing and teenagers are often very emotional! It just kinda goes with the territory of being young and having stress, and a lot of the time it wears off in a few years. And a professional will know if it is or is not an appropriate diagnosis for you, and what kind of help you need to feel better. That's their whole business and they've had years of education for it. There are many different forms of obsession, for instance, difficult for a lay person to distinguish, and not all of them are OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder). Even normal people can be obsessive when feeling stress. It's a way we have of burning off the energy. Just try to be sure you direct obsessiveness in healthy ways, and not ways that harm you.
I do have a couple of suggestions. Firstly... don't romanticize these labels! They are not fun to have and they are not good things to have. If it is necessary when diagnosed well then, deal with it when it comes and a professional can tell you options. I think many people think it's somehow "cool" to have a diagnosis or even several... but it is not in the least cool and in fact it's a dangerous attitude to think that illness is a good thing to have! If you start down that path, you are actually seeking illness.
Secondly, regardless of what you want it is, it sounds like you can use some professional support for a while. You might ask your parents for help to see a therapist, or, you can wait until school starts and talk to a counsellor there and explain why you feel you need more support. School counsellors are not always qualified to give mental health counselling, but they can help you arrange to get it, and they'd be only too glad to help you if you ask! That's what they are there for!
There are also some things you can do for yourself. Learn how you can deal with your stress, and learn how to deal with obsessiveness. Find activities that are relaxing... you could take up meditation, yoga, or fitness. They are all enjoyable and will, if you do it regularly, help you with stress and depression. I do fitness myself, partly for this reason, and it helps me sleep better. There are also excellent books on the subject where you can learn other techniques for reducing stress (like visualization) and for anxiety attacks. Managing anxiety is a learnable skill set, just like, say, learning to knit or learning math, and you would definitely benefit by learning to reduce your stress no matter what your circumstances are, most people would. Obsessiveness also... many people have obsessiveness and there are many books about improving it. You can find these books at your public library. I'd also recommend the book, Feeling Good by Dr. Burns, which will probably be at your library... there are so many copies in print. It is about how our thoughts create moods, and teaches how to retrain your thoughts to lift yourself out of depression. I've used it, and it really works!!! Probably when you get mood swings to depression, there are certain thoughts that precede it... you can find out by reading the book.
I wouldn't pay too much attention to what your family thinks you have, but instead find professional help soon... and they can tell you for certain and then you'll know what you're really dealing with. Misinformation from well meaning non-professionals can hurt you, so get a professional to talk to you personally.
I hope you will come back and talk to us. If nothing else, we're good at listening!
