When do I tell potential partner I have a mental illness?

[Bijou]

It seems to me that the issue of trust comes into it, such as trusting the other person not to discuss your information  with anyone else.  If I didn't feel I could trust the person to respect my privacy, and it was not something I wanted to have people discussing about me, I would not disclose it until I felt that trust (which could be never, in which case we would no longer be seeing one another).

[HorseFreak]

I would agree with the PP who said third date or so, depending on how it was all going. My cousin (I've previously posted about her) is seriously mentally ill, but it wasn't all that obvious 8 years ago when she dated "Jim." She did not disclose her problems, including suicide attempts, until she was hospitalized for another one. They had been together for at least several months and Jim was head-over-heels, which is why he was heartbroken and felt betrayed when it all came out. His mother also had mental health problems and had committed suicide and he wouldn't have let anything go anywhere with my cousin if he had known. It really shook him to the core to deal with this all over again and he came close to a breakdown. My aunt went around trashing him saying he was unsupportive and a terrible person to anyone who would listen.

Since then she has been upfront with her potential suitors and has a steady BF now who can handle it.