Bipolar Disorder Therapy

Bipolar Disorder Therapy Can Help You Gain Control Over Your Life

If you’ve hit a roadblock coming to terms with a bipolar disorder diagnosis or question its accuracy, you’re not alone. Regardless of whether you’ve received a diagnosis or not, you may be feeling stuck, unfulfilled, and held back by frequent mood swings, particularly in the face of challenging life transitions. 

Therapy will be a safe container to ask questions, gather information, and learn strategies to stabilize your mood. In therapy, I can help you better understand how your bipolar disorder symptoms affect different aspects of your life, such as your relationships, work or school performance, and other responsibilities. We’ll also dive into your history and explore how past events could impact your current thoughts and feelings.  

What To Expect In Sessions

Our initial focus will be to foster stability in your mood by helping you identify indicators of when an episode is beginning. Noticing subtle shifts in mood, energy levels, or behavior as well as lifestyle contributors—such as substance use or lack of self-care—will help you recognize triggers early and help you develop healthier coping strategies. Providing psychoeducation about bipolar disorder will enhance your understanding of it, including its possible causes and risk factors, such as genetics, past trauma, and extreme stress.

Working together, we can determine what you’d like your longer-term goals for therapy to be. I will help you explore the quality of your relationships and sources of connection, pay attention to what your self-talk sounds like, or help identify what gives you meaning and purpose. 

Throughout sessions, I will illicit ongoing feedback to ensure therapy meets your goals. Additionally, if medication is part of your treatment plan, I will form a collaborative relationship with any other care providers involved in your care, such as your psychiatrist, nurse practitioner, or primary care physician. 

Bipolar Disorder Treatment With A Focus On Improving Your Mood 

Some strategies we may include in bipolar therapy treatment will be:

• Gaining awareness of the warning signs that precipitate depressive, hypomanic, or manic episodes; 

• Establishing a routine and making healthy lifestyle choices; 

• Reducing the stigma, guilt, and shame associated with the diagnosis—or related to your behavior during episodes—and increasing self-compassion and self-acceptance; and 

• Teaching coping strategies, such as meditation, mood tracking, and exercise, to help manage episodes. 

Additionally, we may incorporate other evidence-based modalities into bipolar disorder therapy, including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to clarify values, Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) to identify and change unhealthy thoughts and behaviors, and mindfulness techniques to manage stress and remain more present. We might also utilize psychodynamic therapy in bipolar disorder therapy to gain self-knowledge, Interpersonal Social Rhythm Therapy (IPSRT) to develop more consistent routines, and Somatic Experiencing to increase body awareness and gain greater control over emotions and physical reactions.

Although your bipolar disorder diagnosis won’t go away after therapy, by increasing self-awareness, you can learn how to better cope with ongoing symptoms and manage episodes when they do happen. When you can anticipate your shifts in mood more effectively, you will feel more in control and less fearful of future episodes. You can also experience more fulfilling relationships with others, as well as improve your sense of worth and self esteem.