Expert: Jennifer - 4/17/2009

Question
"k i'm a 16 year girl in the uk.

i was talkin to a mate of mine on the fone earlier, we were talking for like two hours.
somehow, the subject of my mood swings arose - i have strong ones. everyone notices but i dont really focus on it too much, its like life for me.
Anyway she basically said tht its unusual because she knos no one else whose moods change like mine, I can go to one lesson and al b completely hyper, but al then come out of it miserable. I kno I have a problem with sadness – ive been miserable for years, nd because its such a strong sad I dnt notice wen im  not it. But like she sed, im like sad-hapy nd no between. Nd my happy is like hyperness, like having drunk an entire bottle of coke or something, I literally bounce. [im not joking there, one time I bounced up/down for like 2 hours at a disco]
Anyway, like I sed I struggle wit moods, nd wen people bring it up I wave them away, you know – blame it on hormones.
But wen I luk at it, others peoples hormones aren’t as bad, they all have days wen they’re just ‘them’, not ‘kill-yourself-miserable’ but not ‘bounce-crazily’ happy either. So I came to tha conclusion that summit must b up. My friend gave me a couple of home truths earlier nd they hit hard, but I still cant quite believe any of it. I was jus constantly goin ‘im not bipolar’ over and over again, and really meaning it.
Anyway, I self harm too, which im guessin aint normal, and ive been suicidal for a while now, although being a stupid old wimp ive not done it. I have terrible times sleeping most of the time, but once every blue moon [aka rarely] I’ll have like one  night where I’l sleep from like 11 – 8, which is ages for me. An average night is 3-7.30 [give or take].
Anyway, I’m sorry I;ve gone on and on, but I thojght maybe you could tell me if im bipolar or something, the thing she said I was. I cant believe it myseld. I’ve never put a name to how I am – although I know sumthin is wrong in myhead. Has been since my nan died. [I was 12]
Writing this has been hard, coz its basically spilling my guts to a stranger. So thanks for your time and thanks in advance for being nice and undastandin.
lorri"

Answer
First and foremost, thank you for sharing what's happening for you in life, I know that it can be difficult for some to open up to strangers - I've personally always found that my difficulty is in sharing with people that I actually know and am close with.  I could spill my guts more completely with a stranger, but have had relationships end because I couldn't share my feelings with someone that I should have been closest with.
 I'm not sure whether you meant your mother or your grandmother (when you wrote about your nan dying), either of them would be likely to cause a traumatic response regardless of your age or mental health status. At 16 though, you shouldn't be able to say that you've been miserable for years -- but I don't doubt that you've felt this way, or that you're going through a time that's been extremely difficult for you to navigate towards eventually pulling out of.  I cannot diagnose you, as I am not qualified to do so -- but I do urge you to make an appointment with a mental health services provider as soon as you can.  Not only to make a diagnosis if appropriate, but to talk to someone about what you're feeling and how it's affecting your daily life.  Please let me know when you've been able to get an appointment and I'd like for you to keep me updated on your progress if you can.