Here's what my therapist & psychiatrist told me I was 20. Academic overachiever, and "cliniy" depressed. Anyhow, she (my therapist) said, you have bipolar depression. You have to take these drugs for the rest of your life (eg, valium, xanax, depakote, zoloft) I said, what do you mean? (I was thinking- you got to be fucking kidding me!) She said- people with bipolar depression only get progressively worse, so we'll have to up your dosage every few months. I asked her, Really? Has this been proven? Can I see research on this? She said- It's really complicated, you won't understand. But we can talk more about it. But people who don't take their medications will get progressively worse. I said- OK, see you next week! Anyhow, I cancelled all my future appoints, told her I wasn't taking any more drugs via phone. And I felt SO MUCH better. I think this would be true of most people. Psychiatry is a scam.