It's fascinating to me how different people respond differently to the same medication. My experience with Abilify was it flattened me out. Like it stripped me of my entire personality. Left me kind of emotionally catatonic, except it didn't stop a major depressive cycle. After first reducing the dosage, my psychiatrist took me off of it entirely for this reason. On the other hand, a lot of people here have had very good luck with Abilify, judging by comments on the varied bipolar forums. One person felt they had finally gotten themself back thanks to it. Why your condition is so resistant to medication I do not know, but I've found since my diagnosis that this is an art, not a science. There is science behind the different drugs, but ultimately finding each person's best options seems to be a lot of trial and error. Meanwhile you're stuck going up and down with crazy extremes. It can be discouraging.

Again, I'm finding that in my case, using the mood tracker I linked and getting into therapy have been the biggest help. I'm finally articulating this thing I've lived with all my life. I'm hoping I can understand it better.