sugahorse; when I was first diagnosed I was put on leave from work, so I took part in an intensive 8 hour day/4 times a week group therapy program led by Psychiatrists, Psychologists and Social Workers (for over 3 months). We went through every aspect of my life and I looked at things I had stuffed for many years. It was hard work, but it really helped me. I have tried a weekly group therapy session after that and lasted about a year and I had to leave. For me the above program needs to be group therapy because I couldn't sit through 8 hours of only talking about myself, but I prefer one-on-one.

My views on therapy is YES it does help, BUT if my meds aren't working it's very difficult to have any progress. In saying that I still see a Psychologist regularly and when I'm not well she helps me keep things into perspective.

I have started reading a great book called "The Dialectical Behaviour Therapy Skills Workbook for Bipolar Disorder" by Sheri Van Dijk, DBT therapy is normally used for persons with Borderline Personality Disorder, but therapists are now seeing the benefit for persons with BP.

These are some of the skills DBT is based on:

1. Mindfulness: helps people live in the present moment rather than experiencing painful emotions that come from constantly thinking about the past and/or future.

2. Distress Tolerance Skills: Helps you better cope with crisis situations like manic or depressive episodes in healthier less destructive ways.

3. Emotion Regulation Skills: Helps you manage your emotions, as well as tolerate your emotions when you can't change them or reduce their intensity.

4. Interpersonal Effectiveness Skills: Will help you maintain relationships through acting assertively and through taking good care of yourself.

Hope that helps!