I am an artist. I have been one all my life. I am just recently starting to accept my Bipolar I Disorder diagnosis and yet the more I learn about it, the more I wonder how much do I really owe to this disorder as an artist.

I am off medication right now but just for another month. I know now that I need it and I am now willing to give it a try. But before I go back on the drugs I am desperate to find out if those times of extreme and fruitful inspiration where just hypo manic episodes. Even worst, I wonder if all along every time I felt inexplicably inspired I was just being manic instead of gifted.

I personally feel that being an artist defines who I am as a human being. It has determined my personality and my decisions in life greatly. Unfortunately much of my behavior in the last few years has been erratic, self destructive and unproductive. However when it came to art my moods and manic stages only fueled my artistic side. Sometimes I even wonder if it is worth finding out that all these hours I spent furiously creating pieces of art were just manic episodes. 

Are there any artists or creative individuals that feel as if their creative process and their artistic drive was somehow the result of their bipolar disorder? Wouldn't this make Bipolar Disorders the artist's muse?