No, he thinks the episodes are real. So do I. What I mean is that while I was cycling I was also experiencing this unhappiness in my relationship. Because I was cycling, I blamed the unhappiness in the relationship on my bipolar and I would do things to make the bipolar episode worse. I guess so that I could justify feeling so bad.

Now that I am no longer cycling, my T still sees the unhappiness in the relationship ( which has also gone in cycles) as part of my bipolar symptoms because it was so intertwined before.

It is hard to explain, but it kind of feels like The Boy Who Cried Wolf.