Etiological and triggering factors

The basic goal of Session 3 is to have patients learn about the biological nature of their disorder and, above all, to learn to distinguish between the “causal” concept of the disorder, which we always emphasize as biological- and the “triggering” concept, which can be either biological or environmental. This distinction plays a basic role in the way many patients handle the feelings of guilt they have about their disorder, given that they believe they are suffering from bipolar disorder because of some factor they are responsible for and that acted as a trigger; for example, the consumption of toxic substances, stress, or interrupted sleep.