newly diagnosed...advice on telling others

Hi. I've recently been diagnosed with Bipolar 2 and would like some advice on how to tell and explain this to friends/family. Should I tell people who don't even know that I have depression problems? I'm fairly good at hiding my symptoms of depression most of the time but recently had a 2 week long bout of severe depression that I'm sure many people noticed. I'm a Special Ed Teacher and I have 2 teacher assistants and a nurse in my class. They know I suffer from depression and anxiety but don't know about my new diagnosis. I'm hesitant to tell them...im hesitant to tell anyone and just need some advice. Thanks.

Hi. Welcome to the forum.

My personal view is that it should only be shared on a need to know basis, as in family and close friends. I would only bring it up in a work environment if it's effecting work performance and then only to HR with a goal of possibly developing an accommodation with them. I don't actually do this as I'm too open about things but that's what I believe I should do.

Welcome!

I'm sure you'll find from other replies that this is a very personal choice. Some people only tell a few close friends/family, others choose to disclose everything to everyone, and everything in between.

Me personally. At first, I only told my parents. We're very close, and they have always been a huge help and support for me. A few months later I talked with a couple of friends about it. These are people I trust completely. I felt they deserved to know, given all they had to put up with, and they are also a source of support. It's also helpful to have people around me who notice when things are going south.

As for the work environment, one of these friends works with me. I hadn't planned on telling anyone else, but those plans went down the drain... Eventually, it got so bad I had to speak with my boss. I'm very fortunate, he was very understanding, not at all judgmental. I still don't like it, but it's done and it was my own responsibility, so...

My advice would be to think long and hard about who you really trust. Don't just decide things in the spur of the moment. Consider everything, make a decision, think some more, and then do it. Still, I do think it's good to have other people know about our diagnosis. It's a source of support, they can help if need be, and it allows us to share some of the burden. So long as you trust the right people.

Again, this is a very personal choice, so take what you get here and really think about it.

Unfortunately I told my coworkers this morning by accident. We were talking about dreams and I mentioned I had been having weird dreams due to a new medicine. They asked what medicine and instead of making something up, I froze and spilled the beans. Fortunately, all of them have issues with depression so, they acted like it wasn't a big deal. I'm just worried they are going to get mad at me one day and tell my principal.