I do love me some DBT!

It does work for some bipolar stuff like impulsivity and agitation. There is also a focus on relying on your body to tell you what you are actually feeling, and I think listening for physical cues probably really helpful for bipolar.

Mindfulness, goal setting, distress tolerance and self care are all good skills to have going up against any mental illness.

However, when you need an antipsychotic, you NEED an antipsychotic.

DBT wouldn't work for me if it were not for my excellent team. The place I go to specializes in BPD and PTSD. The clinicians meet regularly to discuss patient's progress and road blocks. My T, my group leader and my Pdoc are all in communication. Its pretty awesome.

My T is really good at identifying bipolar problems, unfortunately my T (and the whole program) would not be available to me if I did not have the BPD and PTSD diagnosis along with bipolar.