Get help now Free · 15 languages · no ads, no tracking Watch on YouTube
Lesson 21 of 24

I Think a Bipolar Episode Is Starting—What Should I Do?

Turn one warning rung and one route into a small sequence of actions you could actually run in the first days of a possible early change.

coming soon

The video for this lesson is on its way. The workbook chapter is ready now.

↓ Download the lesson PDF

PDF · 20 pages · 0.3 MB · Free · no email · no sign-up

If you only have two minutes

Copy exactly two lines:

  1. My active or possible rung and current route are: …
  2. My first contact and smallest agreed action are: …

Those two lines are a complete action draft; they do not confirm an episode or replace professional review. You may stop here.

What this lesson is for

The first seventy-two hours is a planning window, not a verdict. Nothing here decides whether an episode is starting. What it does is remove improvisation from the days when improvising is hardest — you take one rung off your ladder and turn it into an ordered set of small actions with names attached.

Copy the rung as it stands. Direction, level, certainty, action, contact — transferred, not re-diagnosed. Deciding all over again what the observation means is precisely how these three days get spent.

You leave with a short, ordered set of steps, each with a named owner and a review point.

Only in the video

Two things make more sense watched than read.

  • The airlock image, which is what makes a planning window feel different from an alarm.
  • The six properties of a workable action, tested against real ones that fail — because reading the list is not the same as seeing one collapse.

This Program does not recommend a medicine, compare doses, select a treatment, or tell you to start, stop, restart, taper, change or combine anything. If you're considering a change, contact the professional who knows your situation before you act — and if it's urgent, use an urgent route.

Sources for this lesson →

The Bipolar Stability Program

Twenty-four short lessons. One workbook. Free.

Each lesson is a short video and one chapter you can print and write on. You don't sign up, you don't give an email, and there's nothing to pay — not now, not later.

René has lived with bipolar disorder for over 25 years. He built this program out of the 14 months he spent in a hospital psychoeducation group, the published Barcelona manual, and the sources psychiatry actually works from. It's a syllabus: the map and the words to take to the people who treat you.

You're on lesson 21 of 24.

See all 24 lessons
  1. Newly Diagnosed With Bipolar? Write This Page First
  2. What Is Bipolar Disorder? (And What It Isn't)
  3. Bipolar Sleep: 3 Short Nights That Mean Different Things
  4. Bipolar Early Warning Signs: Pick 4 That Are Yours
  5. What Is My Bipolar Medication Actually For?
  6. Bipolar Life Chart: How to Map Your Mood History
  7. Bipolar 1 vs Bipolar 2: What the Number Really Means
  8. Hypomania Signs Others Often Notice Before You Do
  9. Manic and Depressed at the Same Time? Mixed Features
  10. Bipolar Disorder or Something Else? Thyroid, Trauma, ADHD
  11. Alcohol, Cannabis, and Bipolar Disorder: What to Notice
  12. Bipolar Triggers: What Adds Pressure—and What Protects You
  13. Bipolar Psychiatry Appointment: Make the Short Visit Count
  14. I Feel Fine. Why Am I Still on Bipolar Medication?
  15. Bipolar Side Effects: What to Track and When to Call
  16. Thinking About Stopping Bipolar Medication? Start Here
  17. Bipolar Disorder and Pregnancy: Questions to Ask Early
  18. Does Therapy Help Bipolar Disorder? What the Evidence Says
  19. Bipolar Warning Signs: Subtle, Clear, and Urgent
  20. How to Draft a Bipolar Crisis Plan—Before You Need It
  21. I Think a Bipolar Episode Is Starting—What Should I Do?
  22. How to Build a Routine That Helps With Bipolar Disorder
  23. Life After a Bipolar Episode: Work, Money, and Relationships
  24. Grieving the Person You Were: Bipolar and Identity
How the program works →

In danger right now, or someone else is? Get urgent help →