Shirl your post made me feel so sad, thinking how brutal life is with us, whether we deserve it or not. Your story, Dianne's story, just make me realise that even though pain is not something you can measure on an universal scale, a situation like the one you went through makes me feel silly when I think of some of the things that give me great pain.

Baruch I am very happy that you are seeing a professional who is helping you to make sense of the mood swings and the depression. Hypomania is correlated to bipolar disorder, which is treated with success in many cases. Almost all the great artists in the history of man were or are bipolar, so you are in very good company!
Diagnosing these disorders is very difficult because of your young age, but it's really great that you are being assessed and will receive the help you need.

Barbara, POW means Princess of Wales parakeet. I'm currently babysitting for one. They're slightly larger than a cockatiel.

Wow how pretty!