I hope someone here can advise me

[cyclonefence]

I have a dear friend (from college, and we're in our 70's now) who has bipolar disorder. She is medicated, with varying results.

During some two-three week periods she calls me maybe three times a day, usually when I'm not able to answer. When I call her back (which I do, every time), she begins talking very rapidly, skipping from topic to topic. Some of what she says is highly unlikely, involving celebrities she met who asked her out to lunch and refused to let her pay "because I make lots more money than you." Some of what she says is untrue, some of it is based on things we've both read about in the paper.

I do not challenge anything she says, just saying "wow" or "that's amazing" at the appropriate times.

I would not have a question except that telling me all this stuff--it takes half an hour to forty-five minutes every time--seems to calm her down. Then I tell her I love her and hope she has a good night's sleep.

She doesn't live close enough to visit, and I think these phone calls are kind of a life-line, but I'm not sure. Am I doing the right thing, essentially encouraging her to engage in these fantasies (hell, some of them might be true, for all I know), or is that somehow feeding her mania? As I say, listening to her sympathetically does calm her down, but is it the right thing to do?

Advice would be appreciated if anyone has an idea of what I should be doing. Thanks.