There is no danger of relapse in Self-Mastery because there is no level of intensity that can cause a crisis for us; we live in a wide range of intensities of both mania and depression and are highly functional and comfortable in all of them. We do not suffer in the states like those in Dis-Order do.

This is dangerous thinking. Not because it's wrong to want to attain a "mastery" over your mood symptoms, that's fine. It's because there is no recognition of fallibility.

There's also this eery tone of 'enlightenment' in those words. It's akin to every group of people the world over who have ever said to another group of people that they are better at XYZ and it's because only they have the secret thingy that no one else has.

But caring for your mental health isn't Amway, and it isn't a bloody cult. "Courses" and "testimonials" are just fluff words to make pseudo-science seem more than what it is.

If this 'mastery' method was all it was cracked up to be it'd be a matter of intense scrutiny and discussion. It would be researched and the findings peer reviewed. It would be spoken about at conferences for the field of psychiatry, mental health and social work.

And you wouldn't need Kim, Andrea and Kyle to butter everyone else up.

I do not believe that any of these people have unlocked some secret to managing their illness medication free. Many people learn to manage their illness. All that has been done here is branding. I'm willing to hedge a bet that the courses are made up of self-improvement rhetoric, coupled with DBT or CBT techniques, and a mood tracking diary so that people can educate themselves on their mood cycles. And after a while these people might try to ween off medication - as many Bipolar sufferers already do after they feel, and their treating psychiatrists feel, that they can do so safely.

So I wouldn't try this. Not just because I can't take it seriously, but also because the author of the article has grossly underestimated the veracity of some peoples' illness. If I go unmedicated, if I take risks with my brain, there is a strong chance I will end myself - either deliberately or by mistake. I don't get good bits. I get ugly bits. I get terror where others get euphoria. So I wouldn't take chances even if this scheme were paying me to participate.