[catrules]

I am diagnosed with GAD and Bipolar II and I have been in therapy for over four years. I have found that the therapy is really helpful with the anxiety and I very rarely have panic attacks anymore. However, I find that most t's and I have gone to a few don't really know what to do with the bipolar diagnosis. I find myself in therapy just chitchatting about my week and it frustrates me. Maybe I am just therapied out for a while. Just wondered other people's thoughts on BP and therapy. Are there approaches that are more effective than others?

[Skittles56]

My therapist spends the first ten minutes or so chit-chatting about my week and what I've been doing lately. That always leads into a discussion of something that has been bothering me or something I'm really happy about.

If you're spending the whole time just in idle chat and not getting to anything specific, I think it might be time to get a new therapist.

[Victoria'smom]

I do talk therapy also. I think it depends on what you want from T as far as your bipolar:

Things I ask for from T

* Keep me med compliant
* not to over react
* catch me before I hit psychosis
* keep me out of inpatient
* when I need inpatient set it up and break the news to me
* know and warn me when I'm having major mood swings
* help me figure out damage control when in mood swings
* help me deal with parenting issues
* Help me figure out if "Is it me or him?" bp couple issue
* Help me with my irrational thoughts
* get me to the point I'm willing to deal with my eating disorder
* work closely with pdoc and other team members
____

What we ask of my sons T
* help him deal with our BP
* help him deal w. his issues
* Be a trusted adult
* inform us if he needs inpatient
* work closely with his pdoc and our team
* help him grow up to be a happy and healthy adult

[~Christina]

I think your T and yourself need to have goals to work towards... If your Therapy seems stalled and your not moving forward then you need to speak up to your T.. If you have a T that does not really know what or how to help someone with Bipolar then it's time for a new T .

Be your own best advocate..

[ultramar]

I agree with Christina that it's a good idea to have goals --maybe you need to have a discussion with your therapist about where you want this to go and how.

I think most people can benefit from therapy, whatever their diagnosis(es). There are always things that can be improved, from relationships, to coping with all kinds of stress, and so many other things.

As far as bipolar disorder, my therapist helps me identify when I'm going into an episode and encourages me to increase medication as early as possible so that it will not deteriorate into full-blown mania. So he keeps an eye on this and it's very helpful. I also have very mixed feelings about the Seroquel I take, that I need to take it in the first place, side effects, etc. -this is something we talk about sometimes and it's very helpful.

You can ask your therapist to help you with coping mechanisms when you get depressed or hypomanic --there are ways to regulate emotions aside from medication. You can ask her to help you identify when you're going into an episode, if you lack insight into these things when you're in the thick of it...

No sense going to therapy just for chit-chat, as you recognize yourself; but I think if you talk to her about goals and the kind of help you specifically feel you need for the bipolar (and anything else you might struggle with) hopefully she can help.