Samenvatting

Although bipolar disorder (BD) has been understood classically as a cyclic disease with full recovery between manic and depressive mood episodes, the long-term outcome has been associated with cogni tive deficits, impaired psychosocial functioning, and premature death.1 Due to ageing of the population the absolute number of older persons with BD will rise in the next decades1 with substantial burden for their caregivers. 2. Acknowledging that recovery is defined more broadly than the absence of mood symptoms,3 insights regarding perspectives of recovery and expectations of mental health care (MHC) are urgently warranted to meet the needs of this growing complex patient group.