Treating Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar disorder involves episodes of depression and mania or hypomania, shifts in mood, energy, and activity levels that go beyond normal fluctuation. It affects how you think, how you function, and how you experience the world, often in ways that are difficult to see clearly from the inside.
One of the most common issues we encounter is misdiagnosis. Many patients with bipolar disorder are initially treated for depression alone, which can lead to medications that make things worse rather than better. Getting the diagnosis right is the foundation of everything that follows.
We treat bipolar disorder in adults, children, and adolescents.
How We Evaluate Bipolar Disorder
Every patient at Everhealth begins with a comprehensive psychiatric evaluation. The core process is the same for every condition: a clinical interview, validated assessments completed before your visit, a review of your personal and family history, and a collaborative discussion about findings and next steps.
For bipolar disorder specifically, the evaluation places particular emphasis on mood episode history, including the timing, duration, and pattern of depressive and manic or hypomanic episodes. We review cycling patterns, prior medication trials and how you responded to them, family history of mood disorders, and the critical task of differentiating bipolar disorder from unipolar depression. This distinction matters because the treatment approaches are fundamentally different.
Your pre-visit assessments are tailored based on what you share in your intake. If mood instability is a concern, you will receive screening tools designed to help your provider assess the pattern and severity of your symptoms.
How We Treat Bipolar Disorder
Treatment for bipolar disorder requires a careful, long-term approach. The goal is mood stabilization: reducing the frequency and severity of episodes while supporting your day-to-day functioning.
Medication Management
Medication is central to bipolar disorder treatment. Your provider will discuss mood stabilizers, and in some cases other medication classes, based on your episode pattern, history, and how you have responded to previous treatment. Bipolar disorder often requires careful medication management, and finding the right combination takes time and close monitoring. Your provider will be straightforward about what to expect.
Psychoeducation
Understanding your condition is essential. Your provider helps you learn to recognize the early signs of mood episodes, understand your personal triggers, and develop awareness of your own patterns. For many patients, this knowledge becomes one of the most important tools in managing the condition over time.
Lifestyle and Coping Strategies
For bipolar disorder, routine matters. Sleep regularity, stress management, and consistent daily structure all play a significant role in mood stability. Your provider works with you on concrete strategies that support stability between episodes, specific to how the condition affects your life.
Ongoing Monitoring
Bipolar disorder requires long-term management. Follow-up visits track mood stability, medication response, side effects, and any emerging patterns. Treatment plans evolve over time as your provider learns more about how you respond.
Coordination of Care
When therapy or other support would benefit your treatment, we help coordinate that. We do not provide standalone psychotherapy, but we recommend the type of therapy most appropriate for your situation, point you toward resources to find a therapist, and provide referrals when needed. If you already have a therapist, we coordinate care with them directly.
Who We Treat
In addition to adults, we treat bipolar disorder in the following age groups, each of which requires a tailored approach.
Children and Adolescents
Mood instability in children and adolescents can overlap with other conditions, and distinguishing bipolar disorder from normal developmental changes, depression, or ADHD requires careful evaluation. Family history and a thorough longitudinal history are particularly important in this age group.
Learn more about care for children and adolescents →Common Questions
Bipolar disorder includes episodes of both depression and mania or hypomania. The depressive episodes can look identical to unipolar depression, which is why misdiagnosis is common. The distinction matters because antidepressants alone, without a mood stabilizer, can worsen bipolar disorder in some patients.
In most cases, yes. Bipolar disorder is a condition that generally requires ongoing medication management to maintain stability. Your provider will be honest about this from the beginning and will work with you to find a regimen that balances effectiveness with quality of life.
This is a common and important question. Feeling stable is often a sign that medication is working, not that it is no longer needed. Stopping medication without clinical guidance significantly increases the risk of relapse. If you want to discuss changes to your medication, your provider will work through that decision with you carefully.
For the vast majority of patients, medication is a necessary component of treatment. Lifestyle strategies, psychoeducation, and therapy are all important complements, but they are not substitutes for medication in managing bipolar disorder.
We do not provide standalone psychotherapy, but we recommend the type of therapy most appropriate for your situation, point you toward resources to find a therapist, and provide referrals when needed. For bipolar disorder, therapy can be a valuable complement to medication, particularly in building coping skills and recognizing early warning signs. If you already have a therapist, we coordinate care with them directly.
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If you suspect you may have bipolar disorder, or if your current treatment does not seem to be working, the first step is a comprehensive psychiatric evaluation. Getting the diagnosis right is the most important thing we can do.