saucier I think you should be honest 1) because your therapist can't help all the way if they don't know everything and 2) you want to stop using and your therapist can help you or help build skills so you can stop.

I'd tell her that you have something to say to her and that you've wanted to but you've been really anxious about it. When I get hypomanic I use pot and alcohol and I don't always act responsibly. I want to stop doing this. I haven't told you because I'm really scared you'll want to admit me to the state hospital and that scares me. I'd like to explore what options there are to help quitting.

I'll add my own experience when I was manic I drank. A LOT I did it socially to depress the mania and also explain my weird behavior. It was scary to be honest and I was worried about being labelled an alcoholic but the fact that I stopped drinking once I wasn't manic means there isn't an issue.

I still stay away from it because it'sa depressant and it's not a good idea to mix alcohol with klonopin and ambien, both of which I take.

But if you want help quitting the best thing is to talk to your therapist. I've told my therapist things I'm sure i would have gotten chastised for and nothing happened. Well a few times I heard "did you think it was a good choice?" or "did doing that help" and the answer was usually, int he short term yes and in the long term no.