i spent over eight years actively searching for all kinds of non-medicinal treatments for my bipolar. i tried to 12 step it away. i became a reiki master. energy medicine. balancing chakras. crystals. hypnosis. therapy. massage therapy. all sorts of spiritual paths........it finally took being handcuffed on a 72 hour hold out of a psychiatrist office at the college medical center to acknowledge that meds were the final resort...and now almost five years later and stable as can be, i wished i had taken them 30 years ago. could have saved a whole lotta pain and suffering.