Background: According to different sources, prevalence of bipolar disorder (BP) varies from 1% to 5%, and 10-15% of patients show impaired functioning in remission. Twenty to 60% demonstrate poor compliance, which is associated with relapses, repeated hospitalisations and higher risk for suicide. Problems in treatment lead to poor management of the course of disease, incomplete remission with reduced cognitive abilities, social and professional malfunctioning and poor quality of life. Aim: description of the course and psychosocial functioning of patients with bipolar disorder type I (BPI). Material and method: Retrospective analysis of medical histories of 1900 patients treated in outpatient care of St.Petersburg in 2016. Among them 34 patients had diagnosis of bipolar disorder type I: 22 females (age: 37,23±8,48 years) and 12 males (age: 37,23±8,48 years). Average age of onset of disease: 22,59±3,21 years, average duration of disease: 13,29±7,13 years. Statistical analysis involved STATISTICA 10.0 program and standard set of methods. Results and discussion: In more than half patients the number of episodes was higher than 6, with average frequency 0,88±0,57 episodes a year. Patients’ education level was rather high. 44% of patients experienced carrier losses because of their mental disorder and 61,8% displayed microsocial (family) maladjustment problems. 29,3% of patients had substance abuse problems, and 44,1% showed link between psychoactive substance use and the BPI course. Residual symptoms were rather common. Pharmacological treatment was characterized by multiple drug schemes, and only in 29,4% cases it followed the guidelines for BPI patients management. Non-compliance was quite common. Psychosocial functioning of BPI-patients is describes as low-level.