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The Bipolar Disorder Survival Guide: What You and Your Family Need to Know

The Bipolar Disorder Survival Guide: What You and Your Family Need to Know
By David J. Miklowitz

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Product Description

Thanks to sharper diagnosis and better medicine, the future is brighter for people with bipolar disorder than in past generations. But if you or someone you love is struggling with the frantic highs and crushing lows of this illness, there are still many hurdles to surmount at home, at work, and in daily life.

*How can you learn to distinguish between the early warning signs of mood swings and the normal ups and downs of life?
*What medications are available, and what are their side effects?
*What should you do when you find yourself escalating into mania or descending into depression?
*How can you get the help and support you need from family members and friends?
*How can you tell your coworkers about your illness without endangering your career?

In this comprehensive guide, Dr. David J. Miklowitz offers straight talk that can help you tackle these and related questions, take charge of your illness, and reclaim your life. A leading researcher and clinical specialist who knows what works, Dr. Miklowitz supplies proven tools to help you achieve balance--and free yourself from the emotional and financial havoc that result when symptoms rule your life--without sacrificing your right to rich and varied emotional experiences.

This essential resource will help you and your family members come to terms with the diagnosis, recognize early warning signs of manic or depressive episodes, cope with triggers of mood swings, resolve medication problems, and learn to collaborate effectively with doctors and therapists. You'll learn specific ways to ask for support and help from your family and friends--and what to do when their "caring" feels like "controlling." For times when the going gets tough, a wealth of examples of how others have dealt with similar challenges offer new perspectives and new solutions.

Whether you have recently been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, are considering seeking help for the first time, or have been in treatment for years, this empowering book is designed to help put you--not your illness--back in charge of your life.


Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #4843 in Books
  • Published on: 2002-01-24
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 322 pages

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
Hard on the heels of Fuller Torrey and Michael B. Knable's excellent Surviving Manic Depression: A Manual on Bipolar Disorder for Patients, Families and Providers (LJ 1/02) comes another strong title. Both books cover the origins, symptoms, and treatments for bipolar disorder, with emphasis on current medications. The main difference between the two books is that the current title by Miklowitz (psychology, Univ. of Colorado, Boulder) is intended for patients. It spends a good deal of time on issues exclusive to the sufferer how to come to terms with the diagnosis, whom to confide in, and how to recognize one's own mood swings. More concise in its treatment of the issues just mentioned, Torrey and Knable's title is addressed to a more general audience, spends more time reviewing the scientific evidence concerning the origins of the disease, and has a much more useful resource list. On the whole, Surviving Manic Depression would be the first choice for most libraries, with Miklowitz's book recommended for patient education libraries and medium and large public libraries. Mary Ann Hughes, Neill P.L., Pullman, WA
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"This book is practical, straightforward...and will be a great help to those who have bipolar illness...and their families." -- Kay Redfield Jamison, PhD, author of An Unquiet Mind and Night Falls Fast

"This book provides the tools for patients and families seeking to lessen the impact of this disorder on their lives." -- Frederick K. Goodwin, MD, coauthor of Manic-Depressive Illness

"This book should be required reading for people with the disorder, their family members, and the therapists who treat them." -- Demitri F. Papolos, MD, and Janice Papolos, authors of Overcoming Depression and The Bipolar Child

Review
"Dr. Miklowitz's book is both impressive and very humane. His lucid, multidimensional exploration of the patient's experience and his practical and empowering self-management techniques go far toward promoting stability. This book should be required reading for people with the disorder, their family members, and the physicians and therapists who treat them."--Demitri F. Papolos, MD, and Janice Papolos, authors of Overcoming Depression and The Bipolar Child

"When Miklowitz started his work, it seemed paradoxical to many that psychosocial approaches, including illness education, could affect the course of an illness which is incontrovertibly genetic and biological in its origins. It was Miklowitz's pioneering research that proved this assumption wrong. Now he has provided patients and families with just the right psychoeducational tool--an authoritative and eminently readable book about bipolar illness and its treatment."--Frederick K. Goodwin, MD, coauthor of Manic-Depressive Illness, Research Professor of Psychiatry; Director, Center on Neuroscience, Medical Progress and Society, George Washington University Medical Center

"The Bipolar Disorder Survival Guide is a practical, straightforward book that will be a great help to those who have bipolar illness, as well as their families."--Kay Redfield Jamison, PhD, author of An Unquiet Mind and Night Falls Fast


"A thorough and well-written guide that is extremely helpful for both patients and clinicians."--The Carlat Report on Psychiatric Treatment

"This book is crammed full of useful information for bipolar patients, their family members, therapists, friends, lovers, employers and anyone else interested in bipolar disorders....this book is so well written and so full of useful advice as to how to plan and organize a life, that it could be profitably studied by anyone, whether or not he or she has bipolar disorder or knows someone who does."--Metapsychology Online Book Reviews

"...the chapter on 'Dealing with suicidal thoughts and feelings' is the best treatment of this topic I have ever read. Its 'Reasons for living' inventory might be a lifesaver."--mentalhealth today

"...the author's expertise, compassion, and experience are evident throughout....well worth reading and remembering."--NAMI Advocate

"...the book provides solid background information for school psychologists who may need to provide support to parents or colleagues who have bipolar disorder, and should do much to generate a more sympathetic understanding....School psychologists who feel completely comfortable with their understanding of bipolar disorder may wish to have a copy of this book on their shelf to loan out to others."--Communiqué

"The Bipolar Disorder Survival Guide is a thorough, research-based book for consumers who would like to learn about their illness and how to manage it."--Reintegration Today

"The book offers a wealth of material that can help demystify the disorder. Miklowitz methodically explains the disease, its symptoms and diagnosis, moves on to cogent explanations of its possible causes ('genetics, biology, ans stress'), then spends most of the book offering advice on how to manage it. He even offers worksheets and logs to help people come to a better understanding of and approach to bipolar illness....Informative, interesting, and compassionate, The Bipolar Disorder Survival Guide' is a valuable new resource for people with the illness, and their family and friends."--The Daily Camera

"...recommended for patient education libraries and medium and large public libraries."--Library Journal


Customer Reviews

Very Helpful for Friends and Family as well as victims of Manic Depression5
This book proved to be easy to read and informative. I would recommend it for anyone who is, or thinks they might be, bipolar. Also, it is good to read if you for sure think you are NOT bipolar, but others think you are. It will help you gain some perspective. This is also a helpful book for family and close friends of those who suffer from manic depression.

Books5
This was an awesome book excellent reading and easy to understand.I never understood bipoler disorder as well until i read this book. I really reccomend thi to anyone who is trying to understand themselves or a family member.

Survival Guide - Yes!!5
After having been misdiagnosed most of my entire adult life, and after having checked myself into a psychiatric ward due to suicidal thoughts, I was finally diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Following my hospitalization, I craved to know more about the disorder and how myself and my family could deal with the ups and downs of it. This book was just what I was looking for!! I have a medical/clinical background, and I was surprised to find that the author really only had one chapter on medications that the average reader might find a little dry. The entire book is highly informative, which makes it so easy for me to recommend to my family to read as a way of not only understanding bipolar disorder, but how they can help me when I'm not able to help myself. The practical tools for mood charting and how to rate my moods have been an invaluable asset to both me and my psychologist. If you or a family member have bipolar disorder, this is the one book to have. I can't thank Dr. Miklowitz enough for such a great book!!