Bipolar Disorder Treatment

Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder in which the brain's regulation of energy, sleep, and mood swings between depressive episodes and periods of elevated or irritable mood. It is lifelong and it is manageable, and the difference between those two facts is treatment.

Golden Coast Rehab treats adults with bipolar I, bipolar II, and related mood disorders across San Diego County at the partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient levels of care.

Two things make the biggest difference in the long run: consistent medication management, and catching an episode early rather than in week six. Much of what we do is building those two capacities with you.

Programs available for bipolar disorder

Golden Coast Rehab is a contracted provider of Specialty Mental Health Services (Partial Hospitalization Program and Intensive Outpatient Program) for the County of San Diego, Behavioral Health Services, under County Contract 575462. Both programs serve adults 18 and older whose primary condition is a mental health condition, and both are delivered at our La Mesa facility.

Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP)

Day treatment fits mood episodes that have destabilized daily life, or the period after a hospitalization when structure and close psychiatric follow-up matter most. PHP runs during the day, several days a week, and you go home each evening. It is the most structured level of care we offer.

Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP)

IOP supports mood stability with several sessions a week while you carry your regular responsibilities. IOP is several sessions a week rather than full days, so it fits around work, school, and family. Many people step down into IOP from PHP; others start here.

We do not provide residential or inpatient treatment. If your assessment shows you need a higher level of care than we offer, we will tell you plainly and help you find it.

What treatment looks like

Nobody walks in knowing how this works. Here is the actual sequence for bipolar disorder treatment here, start to finish.

Intake and assessment

We take a careful mood history — episodes, their length and triggers, family history, past medication trials and what happened with each, sleep patterns, and substance use. Bipolar disorder is frequently diagnosed as depression for years because people seek help when they are down, not when they are up, so this history matters. Symptoms are tracked with standardized measures, including the PHQ-9 and the GAD-7 where clinically indicated, completed at intake and repeated during treatment so that change is measured rather than assumed.

The first two weeks

Stabilizing sleep and daily rhythm comes first, because irregular sleep both signals and provokes episodes. You will meet with our Medical Director, Dr. Sanjai Mathew Thankachen, MD, a board-certified psychiatrist to review or start medication, and begin learning to track mood, sleep, and energy daily.

Active treatment

Individual and group therapy focused on episode recognition, routine, interpersonal stress, and the specific grief that comes with a chronic diagnosis. Medication is monitored and adjusted. Groups include people at different points in the illness, which is where the realistic hope tends to come from.

Stepping down and aftercare

Step-down care centers on a written relapse plan: your personal early warning signs, the sleep threshold that tends to precede an episode for you, who to call, and what to do about medication. Ongoing psychiatric follow-up continues after the program ends. Typical length of stay is around six weeks in PHP and around six weeks in IOP, but length is a clinical decision made by your treatment team based on how you are actually doing, not a fixed schedule.

Support for families

Families often carry the memory of episodes more vividly than the person who had them, which creates a hard mix of love and vigilance. We work with families on recognizing early warning signs without policing, on the difference between a bad day and an emerging episode, and on what to do when they see it.

With your consent, family members can be included in treatment planning and family sessions. Without your consent, they cannot — your privacy is protected by law, and we will explain to your family what we can and cannot share. More for the people who love you: For Families.

Coverage and cost

If you have Medi-Cal in San Diego County — any of the four managed care plans — treatment here can be covered at no cost to you, because specialty mental health services are administered by San Diego County Behavioral Health Services rather than by your plan. Full detail on how Medi-Cal works here.

Call (858) 925-8589 to check your eligibility. Our line is answered 24 hours a day. If you are in crisis, the San Diego County Access and Crisis Line is available around the clock at 1-888-724-7240.