Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #270921 in Books
• Published on: 1999-08-10
• Released on: 1999-08-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 244 pages

Customer Reviews

The most readable and practical guide on Bipolar Disorder.
As someone who has wrestled with Manic Depression for years, this is the first book that provided me with realistic hope, tons of information, and direction as to how to seek care from an expert. Being a chemical engineer, it was most reassuring to learn of the many new scientific advances. I am now in treatment with a psychiatrist who specializes in Bipolar disorder. The future looks bright. This book was a major help towards that end.

Re-assurance for a family member
As a sibling of someone with bipolar disease, I found this book to be most re-assuring. It was remarkably reader friendly, while at the same time offering up to date and thoughtful information. In addition, the book balances biology, psychology and the environment in understanding the causes and treatment of this disease. This is a great book for anyone who wants to know that there is clear and realistic optimism for treating bipolar disorder.

Straight Answers...
Doctors, whose heads are cluttered with statistics, case studies, and theoretical jargon, often write books that are too heavy, boring, and technical for the average person to want to understand. My sincere thanks go to the Dell Publishers, who have had the intelligence to create a series of easy-to-read guides for educating the public about mental health.

Having experienced Bipolar Disorder for several years now, I finally decided it was time to accept that I have this disease and to begin to understand it. "Why Am I Up, Why Am I Down" is a fast-paced, accessible book that tells you what you need to know.

The main idea that runs through this book is: Bipolar Disorder is a serious illness and needs to be treated by a psychiatrist. Having the disorder can mean a significant impairment in life functioning and, though it is not curable, it is treatable.

The book is written like a big brochure. It's organized into eight chapters covering aspects of identifying and learning to live with the disease: (1) Definitions/Overview; (2) Symptoms/Diagnosis; (3) Causes; (4) How to Get Help; (5) The Role of Psychotherapy; (6) The Role of Medication; (7) Alternative Therapies; (8) Coping. Each chapter is broken down into a friendly question-and-answer format, asking questions like, "What is the typical day like for someone in a hypomanic state," and then answering them.

While there is a chapter on alternative therapies, one of the main ideas in this book is that, if you have Bipolar Disorder, you'll probably be taking medication (combined with other therapies).

What this book drills over and over again is that Bipolar Disorder is a serious medical condition that needs to be treated. "Bipolar disorder is the leading cause of suicide in the country," the book says. ...