Harbour, who played Jim Hopper on “Stranger Things,” talks mental health in a resurfaced interview.

David Harbour underwent ‘intense psychotherapy’ for bipolar disorder: ‘There is not a cure-all formula’

Harbour, who played Jim Hopper on "Stranger Things," talks mental health in a resurfaced interview.

By Raechal Shewfelt

Raechal Shewfelt

Raechal Shewfelt is a writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2024. Her work has previously appeared on Yahoo and in American *Journalism Review* and *The Shreveport Times*.

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on January 15, 2026 5:54 p.m. ET

David Harbour attends the 'Stranger Things' premiere in November 2025. Credit:

Charley Gallay/Getty

An interview that *Stranger Things* star David Harbour did about how therapy has helped his mental health has resurfaced.

Harbour has said that he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at 25.

"There has been a great resurgence in the idea that psychotherapy, along with responsible medication, is key to remission," the actor, 50, was quoted as saying by the publication *Investing in Arts & Education*, per a document dated September 2022, though the original source of the comments is unclear.

Some of the same comments were used as part of an undated article published on Future of Personal Health (a website produced by content marketing agency Caybon via its Mediaplanet group), which have been recirculating as new. The actor's rep clarified to ** on Thursday that he had not done an interview with the website featuring the quotes.

In his earlier interview, Harbour continued, "I have not had a manic flare-up since I started psychoanalysis with a good therapist. Medication alone is only half the battle. There is not a cure-all formula, there is only hard individual work. If you can’t afford therapy, find groups that don’t charge or don’t charge much. You will improve."**

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Harbour, who starred as Jim Hopper on all five seasons of the recently concluded Netflix series, said then that he'd been working with a therapist behind the scenes.

"I have been in therapy since I got sober in 1999," Harbour said. "When I quit drinking, it forced me to confront a lot of demons that rose to the surface."

David Harbour plays Jim Hopper on 'Stranger Things'.

At the time, he said, he had made what had proven to be a helpful change.**

"Only recently have I started intense psychotherapy," Harbour said, "and it has made a world of difference in my treatment."

Harbour described what a manic episode looked like for him.

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"Thought becomes disordered and chaotic. Things that have no meaning became meaningful. Names, numbers, and colors acquire a twisted symbolism," the actor said. "There is a fundamental narcissism at the bottom of it all that makes me think I am the center of all things, for good or for ill. My manic episodes are, of course, a manifestation of my own particular psychopathy. They all share those traits, but each episode has been linked to certain fixations I had at the time."

He wanted to share his story, he said, to help others who are suffering in a similar situation.

In addition to *Stranger Things*, Harbour has appeared in movies including *Thunderbolts**, *Black Widow*, and *Revolutionary Road*. He has recently been in the news for his 2025 split with singer Lilly Allen, which turned messy, and rumors of a rift with his *Stranger Things *costar Millie Bobby Brown, although the two later shot those down.

** has reached out to Mediaplanet.

*CORRECTION: A previous version of this story stated that Harbour's quotes were from a recent interview.***

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