Bipolar disorder is more than ordinary ups and downs. Mood moves in episodes: long stretches of depression that lift for no reason you can point to, then weeks where everything runs faster and louder. Less sleep but more energy. Bigger plans, quicker spending, a shorter fuse. Then the low returns.
People arrive here from one of two places. Some are in a low period, quietly wondering whether the highs are part of the same problem. Others have a diagnosis already, are settled on medication, and want ongoing support in English, in Bangkok.
Either way, one fact matters early. The elevated phase rarely feels like a problem at the time. It feels like relief, like the real you again. That’s why diagnosis often takes years: people seek help for the depression and never mention the ups, because the ups didn’t seem like symptoms.
What this can look like
The depressive side is familiar: weeks of heaviness, waking at 4am with your mind already running, no appetite for things you used to enjoy, guilt about feeling this way when life looks fine from the outside.
The other side is what gets missed. Clinically it’s called mania, or hypomania when it’s milder: far less need for sleep, thoughts arriving faster than you can finish them, sudden confidence, grand plans, spending that surprises you later, sometimes plain irritability instead of any good feeling. Family and colleagues usually spot it before you do. That’s often how the question first comes up.
Where we fit in
Bipolar disorder is usually managed with medication prescribed by a psychiatrist. Dr. Mason is a psychologist, not a psychiatrist: he does not prescribe, and this practice is not an alternative to psychiatric care. Where medication is part of your treatment, he works alongside your prescribing doctor, and questions about your medication belong with that doctor. If medication is needed and you don’t have a doctor in Bangkok yet, finding one is part of the work.
What we offer is psychological assessment and ongoing therapeutic support. If the picture is unclear, the first task is a careful history: how your moods have moved, when the episodes came, what they looked like from the outside. Sometimes the pattern points toward bipolar disorder, sometimes toward something else, and the right help depends on which.
Between and after episodes, ongoing work is about the parts medication doesn’t reach: what an episode leaves behind at work and at home, the people who got hurt or confused, and planning a life around something that arrives unannounced.
What happens when you get in touch
You can call or message 092 288 7234, every day from 11am to 6pm. We have two locations, the TT Building on Sukhumvit 81 in Phra Khanong, and The Racquet Club on Sukhumvit 49/9.
A first message commits you to nothing and is treated as confidential. It can just say when you’d like to talk. Plenty of people arrive without a diagnosis, with nothing more than a suspicion that their moods follow a pattern, and finding out whether that’s true is reason enough to come in.
Privacy, plainly stated
What you tell us stays with us.
What you share is protected under the same professional confidentiality standards that govern licensed psychologists and counsellors. We don’t confirm to anyone, including family or employers, that you’re a client here.
If you’d rather not share your full name at first, that’s fine, tell us what to call you and we’ll go from there. Read more about confidentiality
Get in touch
Reach out, at your own pace.
A message here doesn’t commit you to anything. Ask a question, describe what’s going on, or just say hello, we’ll take it from there.