I'm debating that question too. My psychiatrist has always been my therapist 45 minutes (used to be 50) every two weeks for 15 years. He's retiring this summer and we've been talking about whether I need a therapist as well as a new psychiatrist. I don't expect the new pdoc to do anything besides prescribe medicines since I'll likely only see him for 10 or 15 minutes at most every 3 months. I love therapy; I wonder how much that has to do with my current pdoc. Since I'm stable I'm thinking that therapy might be only a self-indulgence.

We've talked about it and decided I should have therapy. Pdoc suggested first I try someone on call, but I know someone who was stable who had very bad luck with that method. She actually has ended up in assisted living for her uncontrollable bipolar. I know that's only one anecdote-- still I attribute at least some part of it to the failures of on-call therapy. That's scary. A regularly scheduled therapist knows you well enough to keep tabs on impending manic or depressive episodes before they get out of hand. She/he helps you deal with stressful situations that can disturb stability. You're going to have new issues come up no matter how good things are now.And you say you have skirted some subjects that may be usefully brought up in session.

My thoughts are that it's just too serious an illness with just too possibly painful consequences to let it go untreated. Of course it's your own decision.