“Oh Wizened Bipolar Veteran…knower of all ways to deal with the disorder that disorders us, what do we do after we’ve gotten out of the hospital?”

“Don’t fret, child, for this world’s mental experts have it all worked out. And the first thing on the agenda is to start in with some regularly scheduled therapy!”

Yep! The movies and the books don’t lie. Therapy fixes lots of things, and it definitely can take the edge off of being Bipolar. Odds are that after you get out of the hospital you will be required to go to a daily/weekly group therapy session for a couple of weeks. These sessions are not only therapeutic, but they are also extremely fun, believe it or not. You see, when you go around every day existing amongst other people that DON’T have Bipolar Disorder, it is EXTREMELY comforting to spend an hour or so a day with some folks that DO know how you feel and DO know what you’re talking about. Granted, they won’t all be your age, and they probably won’t be people you’d really want to hang out with on a regular basis, but the INSIGHT that some of these folks have will just clean knock your socks off. A good portion of the folks in the room will tell you that they’ve been dealing with this illness for years. Their help, as well as the social worker or psychologist assigned to facilitate the group, will truly make a difference in your life. So don’t blow off your therapy appointments! They are important! And they can definitely keep you from having a…dare I say it? RELAPSE.