Abstract
Morbidity, mortality and economic consequences of bipolar affective disorder are very important to be evaluated because many of the costs entailed by this psychiatric disorder come from indirect costs due to inadequate diagnosis and treatment and from the characteristics of the affective symptoms itself. Psychotherapy focuses on diagnosis and the newest pharmacotherapy determines a decreasing of the morbidity of the disorder and also of its social and economic burden. However, more studies are necessary, with more heterogeneous patients, to find more predictors regarding the psychosocial consequences and to find more information about the prognosis of the bipolar disorder. In this context, in this paper we discuss the role of assisted resilience and the individualization of the therapy of bipolar affective disorder, especially that the resilience must be seen as a continuum and can be used anytime and in any situation, according to the theory of Geanellos. This idea is reflected in a case presentation of a patient with the diagnosis of bipolar disorder.