Personally, I don't feel professional assistance will be able to tell me anything I don't already know. I have already managed to figure out where this all likely stemmed from, as I took a heavy interest in learning psychology when I was younger, and have since been paying very close attention to what triggers me, and thinking about/mentally recording why it may be triggering me emotionally.

I don't think this is something that can be cured though, as manic depression is another form of bipolar disorder, and given I have every symptom of manic depression, and have had these symptoms most of my life, I doubt they will tell me anything I haven't already figured out based on my own understanding of this mental illness, and all the information provided to me through the last couple decades.

I would prefer to not have to live off medications either, because I know I will become dependent on them, and I don't want that, so I instead learned how to deal with these negative emotions in my own way, such as having a nap, talking about them with my wife (which is really hard for me to do, but I am trying to get better at it), or playing video games to take my mind off them (this one often works best). I still have some pretty bad lows, and nothing helps on those days, but I remind myself that I am here for my daughter and my wife, and that at least keeps me here. It keeps me alive. To me, that's good enough.