I was interested in your comment about how people prone to mania should not do noting practice. I was considering going to the Mahasi center in San Jose Cali this september for a month-long retreat, but you have advised me against it; can it really be so dangerous?
There is the potential for it to be very dangerous, but this is dependent on these factors.
1.
Have you experienced any psychosis? (meaning a diagnosis of bipolar type 1 w/ psychotic features or schizoaffective disorder. Schizoaffective disorder is when psychotic features can occur during a normal mood, not manic or depressed, but the person also has experienced mania and/or depression).
2.
Have you ever attempted suicide and/or made a plan for suicide? (If psychotic features are prominent, then suicide can also be a risk in the same way doing too much LSD might cause someone to jump off a roof thinking they are able to fly). It also can be a risk factor if someone gets deeply depressed and is prone to attempting suicide from a deep state of depression.
3.
Do you experience hypomania (a diagnosis of bipolar type II) or do you also experience full-blown mania? (meaning it either involves psychotic features, or if it doesn't involve psychotic features, it involves behavior that is highly destructive to your life. Non-classical mania is psychosis-like states resembling schizophrenia or an acid trip. Classical mania is going on a 50,000 dollar shopping spree).
Keep in mind that bipolar type II, by definition, does not involve psychotic features as they only occur in schizophrenia/schizoaffective or bipolar w/ psychotic features (which is always bipolar type 1 or schizophrenia/schizoaffective..
If you only experience hypomania (bipolar II), then it is less risky though there is the potential for a depressive state. You, obviously, know your symptoms better than I do, so you would have to assess the risk based on the above three points.
Another important point: You may or may not have these problems when you're on the actual retreat. It is more likely that the problems will sneak up on you after the retreat has ended, but are causally related to the excessive amount of meditation and noting practice done while on the retreat. This could be very dangerous if there are no actual people around to tell you you're getting off track. Keep in mind that the only retreat I went on was 5 days, and I went into psychosis shortly after and was hospitalized twice in row.
On the other hand, I know several people who are bipolar
who do not experience psychosis who have successfully completed retreats with little to no problems. These were all people who were practicing according to the instructions/tradition of Goenka, had no history of suicide attempts, and they were unfamiliar with mahasi noting, the dharmaoverground, or MCTB. This, in itself, doesn't mean anything as they may not have made any progress whatsoever, according to the maps in use here while they were on the retreat. Meaning they probably didn't pass the A&P event.
Helpful? Any more questions?