Finding the Person in the Disorder: Adapting Metacognitive Reflection and Insight Therapy for Bipolar Mood Disorder (MERIT-BD)

Abstract Metacognitive Reflection and Insight Therapy (MERIT) was originally developed as an integrative recovery-oriented therapeutic approach to address the needs of people with a diagnosis schizophrenia other forms severe mental illness. The approach, conceptualized transtheoretical, aims promote more coherent synthetic sense self, through stimulating insight, coherence, metacognitive capacity. We argue that MERIT therapy, designed facilitate peoples’ ability form complex ideas about themselves others use this knowledge respond psychological problems, has application in addressing deficits associated bipolar disorder (BD), where there may be significant injury person’s self. That is, therapy addresses nascent self context disturbance mood is dominant, relation experience episodic manic episodes which understood dissociative events, often shame. we term MERIT-BD draws upon MERIT’s primary principle facilitating complexity integration additionally shame, allowing for facilitation capacity insight finding person. This will illustrated case vignettes illustrating key components MERIT-BD. Early findings drawn from series studies are encouraging.