When my fiancee Matt was first diagnosed, we went to a local support group. It wasn't long before we stopped going. Some of the people had a good grip on their BD, their meds, their triggers, etc. and were beyond helpful with info and websites (keeping in mind that no one, including the person who ran the group, were not qualified to give actual medical advice-but they shared what they knew from experience). The majority of the people, however, scared me to death. They represented the worst of the worst-the people who were drowning in their disorder. They were the ones who didn't listen to their doctors, stopped taking their meds on a whim, and were borderline suicidal/homicidal, manically having sex with whoever, doing drugs, etc. I had an anxiety attack because I was convinced that Matt was going to do all of the above things, despite his aversion to drugs and alcohol and the fact that he has no history of these behaviors. Having little prior knowledge of BD, I thought those things were the norm for everyone, and thus, my anxiety ensued. On the other hand, he wanted to stop going because he didn't get anything out of it. The meetings became less about helping people, and more about people fighting for attention and trying to convince the others to stop their meds-because in their head, they were all "experts". I think if the group had been run by an actual clinician, it would have been more helpful and they would've been able to put all the experiences people were sharing (esp. the bad ones) into context.

Anyone been to a support group? Was it helpful to you or your family?