Well, there are two types of bipolar. There is the one most think of which is episodes of mania followed by deep depression and it cycles back and forth. Then there is atypical bipolar which doctors now recognize as not fitting directly into that tradition manic depressive mold. Is this what you are talking about?
Look, none of us on here are psychologists, so our answers are going to be more in the line of making you feel more in control. Whoever gave you these diagnoses must be more authoritative than any of us laypeople on here. But I might be able to make you less worried about it. Bipolar disorder is a very controversial subject in the field of psychology these days. For various reasons, recent diagnostic manuals over the last few years have greatly expanded what was once considered one disease and has now been split into several. Look at this way, which I find easier to understand -- there is still only one true bipolar disorder. It's a psychosis, and has no known cause and no known cure. As far as I know, the only treatment is medication specifically for it. We used to call it manic depressive disorder, where you have periods of extreme energy and psychosis and periods of relative normalcy and periods of extreme depression. The other bipolar diagnoses are not true bipolar, and many aren't even remotely related to bipolar disorder. They're just names for depression that is manifested a certain way. They are not psychoses. They are treated exactly the same as any other depression, either in therapy or with medication or both. Some of these diagnoses were developed so psychiatrists could get insurance coverage. Most were developed to get patents on drugs. But it's just depression as it's always been, just divided up into smaller categories. Atypical depression is also depression that manifests itself in certain ways, but again, it is mostly only useful for drug patents and insurance reimbursement. When depression does not benefit by the usual antidepressants or therapy, psychiatrists can use drugs approved for other uses, usually anti-seizure or anti-psychotic medications, to see if they will work. Some doctors will use these first, because many doctors are not very bright and do whatever the pharmaceutical company salespeople tell them to do. We tend to look at doctors at special people, but they're just like the rest of us -- some are good at their jobs and love their jobs and care about doing a great job and most aren't and don't. So for you, if you're depressed, just know you're depressed and try and get better. If you're psychotic, you need medication for that. Good luck.