Bipolar Disorder Treatment In Massachusetts

Rockland Recovery provides bipolar disorder treatment in Massachusetts through partial hospitalization, intensive outpatient, and outpatient programs that combine psychiatric medication management with structured therapy. Our mental health centers in Sharon, Bedford, and Quincy treat bipolar I, bipolar II, and cyclothymic disorder in adults, including people who also struggle with alcohol or drug use.

Who Our Bipolar Program Is For

The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that about 2.8 percent of U.S. adults had bipolar disorder in the past year. The people who come to us usually fall into one of a few situations. Some were just discharged from a hospital after a manic or depressive episode and need something more than a follow-up appointment in six weeks. Some have been stable on medication for years and are slipping: sleeping less, spending more, missing work, or sinking into a depression that a weekly therapist cannot pull them out of. Some were diagnosed recently, often in their twenties, after years of being treated for depression alone with antidepressants that made things worse. And some are drinking or using to manage the highs and lows and have realized the drinking is now its own problem.

We treat all types of bipolar disorder. Bipolar I involves at least one full manic episode, frequently with psychiatric hospitalization. Bipolar II involves hypomania and major depression, and because the hypomanic periods can feel productive rather than dangerous, the depression is often what brings people to treatment. Cyclothymic disorder involves milder swings that persist for years. The treatment principles are the same across all of them; the intensity and the medications differ.

Medication First, Then Everything That Makes It Hold

Getting the medication right is the first job. Every person admitted to our program has a psychiatric evaluation and ongoing medication management with a prescriber who sees them regularly, not once at intake. Depending on your history that may mean lithium, an anticonvulsant mood stabilizer such as lamotrigine or valproate, an atypical antipsychotic, or a combination. Antidepressants alone can trigger mania, which is why a thorough diagnostic assessment matters so much before anything is prescribed.

Medication keeps the episodes smaller and further apart. Therapy is what teaches you to see one coming and to live a life that does not keep setting them off.

Group therapy runs daily in PHP and IOP. For bipolar disorder specifically, groups matter because they are where people learn from others who have been through the same episode, hear how someone else caught their mania at day two instead of day ten, and stop feeling like the only person in the room whose brain does this.

Which Level of Care Fits

We offer three outpatient levels of care and no inpatient psychiatric hospitalization. If you or someone you love is in the middle of a manic episode with psychosis, is not sleeping at all, or is at risk of suicide, that is an emergency room situation first. We pick up from there.

Partial hospitalization is usually the first two to four weeks after a hospital discharge, or a severe depressive episode where you cannot function but are safe at home. It runs five to six hours a day on weekdays and gives daily psychiatric access while medications are adjusted. Intensive outpatient, about three hours a day on several days a week, is for stabilizing after PHP or for catching a decline early enough that you can keep working while getting several sessions a week; it usually lasts 8 to 12 weeks. Standard outpatient care, weekly therapy plus medication management, is long-term maintenance once you are stable, and it is where most people with bipolar disorder spend most of their treatment years.

IOP schedules are built for people with bipolar II in particular, who are often holding down demanding jobs and cannot disappear for a month. You can read more about how the two intensive levels differ in our guide to PHP vs. IOP, and about what a day program involves in day treatment programs for bipolar disorder.

Bipolar Disorder and Addiction

Bipolar disorder has one of the highest rates of co-occurring substance use of any mood disorder. Alcohol is the most common: it takes the edge off mania, it numbs depression, and it wrecks sleep, which then triggers the next episode. Stimulants like cocaine and Adderall can mimic or provoke mania. Cannabis use is linked to earlier onset and more frequent episodes.

Where We Treat Bipolar Disorder in Massachusetts

Our bipolar program runs at Rockland Recovery Behavioral Health in Sharon, serving the South Shore and Norfolk County; at Rockland Recovery Behavioral Health North in Bedford, serving MetroWest and Middlesex County; and at our Quincy center, which treats mental health and substance use together. All three accept most commercial insurance plans. We are not able to accept MassHealth or Medicare; if you have state insurance, the Massachusetts Behavioral Health Help Line at 833-773-2445 can connect you with a program that does. If you are weighing inpatient options first, our guide to inpatient bipolar treatment centers explains what to look for, and our BPD treatment program covers the diagnosis bipolar disorder is most often confused with.

This page is for information and does not replace an assessment by a licensed clinician. If you are thinking about harming yourself or someone else, call or text 988, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, or dial 911.