My success with using less and less medications has a variety of influnces. Ill list them but this isnt in order of inportance, just how they occured to me.
First using medicines to find where "normal" really was. I was so high on manias for so many years that i had to take meds to find what normal was all about. That took a good two years.
Learning to live with, and eventually love the new bill that emerged from the ashes of the old life. There really is a grieving process that happens here, you have to grieve the "death" of the old you, learn the new you, and eventually come to love the new you. Again, all this takes time, introspection, acceptance, and lots of humor.
Acceptance. I mean i really had to accept this monster was in me, and that if i ever get to feeling like i had it all under control and i could ignore it, was when it would rise up and bite me in the butt. LOL LOL LOL This meant i had to do a constant check up on myself every day, that meant that BP was allways with me. My ex complained that all i had to do was just take the pills and all would be good. I didnt beileve that at all.
I watched my ex battle her demons, her idea was a pill would be a majic bullet, and she would not have to do anything different or change in any way. I hated this way of thinking, I thought once i found normal. lived normal, that maybe i could then reduce my meds a bit at a time to live with some BP symptons, but still be in control. In short i didnt want to be sympton free at the expense of al the side effects that the meds would bring. I wanted a happy medium, where i still had urges, but the urges were such that i could control them with my mind saying no. I was owning BP, it wasnt owning me.
Acceptance, again. I accept that occisionally that i will fail, i will spend a bit wrong, i might slip sexually, i might engage in some risky behaviours. But if i can control the amount of slip, say spending only 40 dollars stupidly instead of a 1000. (my old life), thats a win for me.
Being smart and keeping condoms around, incase i slip, i can protect myself. Accepting that this is life, and life is about picking yourself up after you fall at times.
Forgivness. I forgive myself, i just let things roll off my back. If i do screw up and spend a bit (i did this week by ordering three books) then i recognized i might be going into a mild mania, that i took a respordal, and let my body reset.
H.A.L.T. Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired. The last two set me off very badly, so i avoid them greatly.
Religion. For me believeing in a higher power has helped me alot. In my case its buddism, its calming influence has helped me greatly in my battle with BP. It is allways a source of comfort and peace.
Geting rid of bad influences. That means living as much as possible avoiding people whos views and attitudes cause me pain. That meant divorcing my wife, because her and i together were very bad news. That meant finding companionship in dogs, they are perfect for us. They love they show is completely true and honest, its not colored by deciept.
These are just a few things that come to mind. I still suffer from BP, but now its more of a truce then it is a fight. I dont poke it to much and it dont poke me to much. LOL LOL Actually stealing a line from the movie "a beautiful mind" the lead actor explained it was like a "Diet of the mind, i still see the things i see, i just choose to ignore them" To me it feels the same, i try and keep my mind on a diet of emotions and impulses, i celibrate the success, and work thru the failures. Thankfully the last four years there has been so much more success then failure.
Hope that this helps.
Bill