"Both Fast and Mondimore stressed the importance of leading a healthy lifestyle, including avoiding alcohol and drugs, cultivating good sleep habits, exercising and effectively coping with stress."

I do THC in low dose and alcohol in moderation daily and am absolutely stable and asymptomatic despite being in a crisis. Alcohol in moderation is very beneficial, population-wide, beyond any doubt. The discussion of alcohol and bp disorder should mention the trade-offs and the individual situations and in general should focus on difficult choices instead of issuing a blank prohibition. E.g. I do not take benzos that notoriously interact with alcohol, so I am OK drinking my one glass of wine every day. If someone takes benzos, then, yes, alcohol should probably be avoided. That is one reason (among many) I will never again take any benzo drug. Bp people should not automatically be deprived of something that is so overwhelmingly good for the population at large. They should instead be counseled on the individual drug/alcohol interactions on a case-by-case basis and perhaps be asked to track their moods in order to determine what if any effect alcohol has on them. Also, it should be determined on an individual basis whether the patient has an addictive personality, because in the case of propensity to addiction, the person cannot stop after having drunk their daily dose. At high doses, alcohol is very harmful (pretty much like Lithium which has a therapeutic range and becomes toxic above it) so if a person cannot control his or her portions, alcohol should indeed be avoided. But not by every bp person!

To me, this article perpetuates a rigid myth.