I have bipolar disorder and have been doing well without meds now for over a year and a half. But I worked my tail off in therapy getting through the other issues in my life that complicated my bipolar symptoms and learning how to manage stress and symptoms very proactively before I ever considered going off of meds (with my pdoc's blessings). Right now I am very stable and so far I have been able to manage the few bouts with some very situational depression and stress.

I don't rule out that down the road I may need to go back on medication; I'm not anti-med at all. But what we found in my case was that the meds that were supposed to be working preventively really weren't working preventively at all for me. Instead, we found I do respond well to meds if I do go into a severe episode and once I am out of the episode and stable again, I appear to be able to go off meds for extended periods of time without problems. For now . . . I am open to change if and when it comes, but for now I am very pleased with where I am.