Secretly Bipolar?

Hello all!

I’ve been stable for the past 2 years no episodes (I couldn’t be more thrilled thanks to my Latuda and very strict lifestyle).
The people who have met me in the past 2 years or didn’t know me very well when I was cycling like crazy have no idea about the life I used to live. In and out of the psych ward, psychosis, self harm, half way house,, etc)
I feel like people don’t know me at all if they don’t know this huge part of my life. Does anyone else feel this way, like having bipolar is their secret identity?
I don’t want to tell people because of the risk of stigma and judgement, but how can my fiends and family truly know me if they don’t know about those 6 years when I was a slave to bipolar disorder, you know?

My questions are:
Do you ever feel like your bipolar is a secret identity
How do you bring up serious topics like psych wards and psychosis etc
How many people in your life know
How do you tell people without scaring them but still making them understand that this is more severe than just mild depression and anxiety?

I tell people about the stupid and brutally insane stuff I've done in the past. But I refrain from using the Bipolar label because I don't give much credit to it.

Oh, and the stigma, of course... It just tends to make things worse.

I just describe myself as a (previously) very disturbed person.

My questions are:
Do you ever feel like your bipolar is a secret identity

I used to think I was a demigod, but medication stopped that. Other than that, no, I really don't.

How do you bring up serious topics like psych wards and psychosis etc

It's best to pick and choose who you tell. I love my mother to death, but I don't talk about that stuff with her. I talk about my anxiety and depression, but not mania and psychosis. I do talk to people about it, but they're mostly online.

How many people in your life know

In actual, off the internet life, two people.

How do you tell people without scaring them but still making them understand that this is more severe than just mild depression and anxiety?

I'd recommend getting to know them first. Some people just don't understand it, or aren't educated on it. Most of my co-workers are 50 or older, and they weren't taught psychology in school, so they have no real understanding of it. I remember one time, there were people in another department talking about how someone had "something called 'schizophrenia'" and they acted like it was a contagious disease.

Not to sound ageist, but generally, people who a younger understand it and are more accepting because they were educated on it all in school. Crime dramas on television don't help people who weren't, because they watch Law & Order, or Criminal Minds and see a character labeled with a mental illness doing all sorts of bad stuff, and just assume they're all like that.