Luckily things have been ok for nearly 10 years now. It's definitely a stress thing that causes it for the people in my family that have it. Luckily my dad was able to semi retire after that. What seemed to cause the episode was him losing his job, his dog, and his big house and having to downsize. I feel like that would make everyone pretty messed up but send a bipolar person into psychosis. My mother and I actually discussed this experience recently. His dog he has now is his best friend and getting pretty old. I told my mom she should probably get a puppy now to help with the crippling sadness. He has his medication to take as needed but losing that dog will probably test him mentally. I'm fairly certain bipolar people feel every emotion waaaay more intensely than a "normal" person.