Books we have found to be very helpful:
Submitted by an anonymous Gold Coast member.
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Take Charge of Bipolar Disorder - A 4-Step Plan for You and Your Loved ones to Manage the Illness and Creating Lasting Stability
Author: Julie Fast and John Preston, PsyD
Note: Julie Fast was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at the age of 31 and has written this book along with a bipolar disorder specialist, John Preston, PhD.
Website by Julie Fast: www.bipolarhappens.com and www.juliefast.com
From the back cover of the book: Many people diagnosed with bipolar disorder are sent home with the name of a doctor and prescription drugs. But few are able to manage their often out-of-control emotions with medication alone. Written by Julie A. Fast, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at age thirty-one, and bipolar specialist John Preston, PsyD, Take Chart of Bipolar Disorder offers a unique, personalized approach that teaches people with bipolar disorder and their loved ones to manage the illness and achieve daily stability. Fast and Preston's groundbreaking program combines medication and supplements, lifestyle changes, behavior modifications, and other indispensable management tools. Readers will learn how to
*Understand the behaviors caused by bipolar disorder
*Work with their doctors to find the right medications
*Develop a bipolar-friendly diet and exercise programs
*Recognize the triggers and signs of major bipolar disorder symptoms to stop the mood
swings before they go too far.
Specifically if you are a spouse/partner who wants to know how to understand and assist someone with Bipolar illness: (the following book will be very informative for anyone, but is written for couples)
Loving Someone With Bipolar Disorder - Understanding & Helping Your Partner
Author: Julie Fast and John Preston, PsyD
Note: Julie Fast was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at the age of 31 and has written this book along with a bipolar disorder specialist, John Preston, PsyD. Julie's partner was also diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
Website by Julie Fast: www.bipolarhappens.com and www.juliefast.com
From the back cover of the book: Each person with bipolar disorder affects the lives of those around them - especially their romantic partner. Loving Someone With Bipolar Disorder is the first of its kind book - written specifically for the partner of a person with bipolar disorder. If you have a loved one with bipolar, you know how disruptive and straining this disorder can be to your relationship. You may experience feelings of fear, loss, and anxiety as well as a constant uncertainty about your loved one's ever-changing moods.
This book is designed to help you overcome the unique challenges of loving someone with bipolar disorder. With the supportive and helpful information, strategies, and real-life examples contained here, you’ll have all the tools you need to create a loving, healthy, and close relationship.
Find out how to:
*Identify which coping approaches work and which do not
*Recognize and transform a "bipolar conversation"
*Use strategies to help manage episodic crisis
*Survive the financial turbulence manic spending may cause
*Deal with problematic sexual issues
*Increase closeness and stability in your relationship
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An Unquiet Mind, A Memoir of Moods and Madness
Author: Kay Redfield Jamison, PhD
You may have heard of Kay Redfield Jamison, as she is frequently featured in documentaries and on TV programs as an authority or expert on manic-depressive or bipolar illness.
From the back cover of the book: Dr. Jamison is Professor of Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and co-author of the standard medical text. She has also experienced it firsthand. While she was pursuing her career in academic medicine, Jamison found herself succumbing to the same exhilarating highs and catastrophic depressions that afflicted many of her patients, as her disorder launched her into ruinous spending sprees, episodes of violence, and an attempted suicide.
In An Unquiet Mind Jamison examines manic-depression from he dual perspectives of the healer and the healed, revealing both its terrors and the cruel allure that at times prompted her to resist taking medication. She has emerged with a memoir of enormous candor, vividness, and wisdom, one of those rare books that have the power to transform lives -- even save them.
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If you want to understand more about Bipolar II, Cyclothymia and other diagnosis within what is referred to as the "soft spectrum" of bipolar illness.
Why Am I Still Depressed? --Recognizing and Managing the Ups and Downs of Bipolar II and Soft Bipolar Disorder
*Discover the causes of your agitation, anxiety, and other mood problems
*Work with your doctor to find the treatment that's best for you
*Stabilize your moods through medications and lifestyle changes
Author: James Phelps, MD
Website: www.PsychEducation.org - with links to website: www.bipolarworld.net
From the back cover of the book: Tried everything but still not feeling better? If your depression keeps coming back or is even getting worse, then you may be suffering from bipolar II or "soft" bipolar disorder. These two commonly misdiagnosed mood disorders are characterized by recurring bouts of depression along with anxiety, irritability, mood swings, sleep problems, or intrusive thoughts.
Why Am I Still Depressed? Shows you how to identify if you have a non-manic form of bipolar disorder and how to work with your doctor to safely and effectively treat it. Dr. James Phelps gives you the latest tools and knowledge so you can:
*Understand the Mood Spectrum, a powerful new tool for diagnosis
*Know all your treatment options, including mood-stabilizing medications and research-tested psychotherapies
*Examine the potential hazards of taking antidepressant medications
*Manage your condition with exercise and lifestyle changes
*Help family and friends with this condition understand their diagnosis and find treatment
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The Cyclothymia Workbook - Learn How to Manage Your Mood Swings & Lead a Balanced Life
Author: Prentiss Price, Ph.D.
Website: www.allaboutdepression.com
From the back cover of the book: Cyclothymia is a mental disorder characterized by mood swings that go from the lows of depression to the highs of feeling euphoric, energized, and driven. It is a milder form of a better-known condition called bipolar disorder, although it lacks the mood extremes, symptom duration, and complications of that condition. Millions of people struggle with cyclothymia every day, yet they don't know their symptoms can be managed. Most are unaware that the disorder even exists, and diagnoses of the condition are uncommon.
But cyclothymia is too dangerous for us to ignore: researchers believe that it can lead to full-blown bipolar disorder in 15 to 50 percent of cases. To effectively deal with cyclothymia, you need to recognize its symptoms early. By developing good coping skills and supportive relationships, it is possible to manage the symptoms of cyclothymia - even without the use of medication - and make lasting improvements in your quality of life.
This book offers an effective strategy for recognizing and coping with cyclothymia. Its chapters are organized progressively, each building on the last to give you all the tools you need to control your symptoms. They combine the latest, most clinically reliable information with engaging assessments and exercises, so you can put the skills you learn into practice right away:
*Explore the causes and characteristics of cyclothymia
*Find out how the disorder affects you
*Discover which treatments are effective
*Learn to monitor your feelings and manage your moods
*Manage your relationships effectively
*Maintain and build upon your successes
Websites:
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http://www.bpso.org (This website's home page displays links to many other websites)
Bipolar Significant Other
Welcome to the BPSO Public Pages
The material presented on this site is intended to provide information and support to the spouses, families, friends and other loved ones of those who suffer from bipolar disorder (manic-depression). These resources have helped many of us inform ourselves, cope with behaviors that sometimes arise from the illness, better understand our own reactions, and determine how we may best support our loved ones in their efforts to understand and live with this often terrible disease.
The BPSO (Bipolar Significant Other) mailing list was formed in 1995. It is an informal organization whose members exchange support and information about bipolar disorder by e-mail and discuss issues related to the impact of the illness on families and intimate relationships. Significant Other includes a spouse (wife or husband), boyfriend, girlfriend, partner, parent, child, sibling, or other near loved one of someone who has bipolar disorder. In order to protect uninhibited discussion, members of BPSO must not be diagnosed bipolar themselves. More information on BPSO and how to join the list may be found on our Membership page. Information on some related lists may be found on our Support page.
We are not medical or psychiatric professionals. While all information is provided in good faith, it does not replace proper diagnosis and treatment. Consultation with a licensed professional is advised. BPSO assumes no liability and makes no warranties.
The BPSO web site generates no revenue and accepts no advertising nor any paid links. The Webmaster is always delighted to learn about sites having significant content related to bipolar disorder that are not already linked here. The BPSO web site and its associated mailing list are sustained and operated through the voluntary contributions of money, labor, research and writings of individual BPSO mailing list members.
http://www.psycheducation.org (Website by Dr. James Phelps)
About PsychEducation.org
The illnesses I treat don't interfere with people's ability to understand their own problem. Many of my patients want to know all that illnesses I can teach them -- and more.
My local primary care colleagues are a fantastic group of doctors. Many of them have become very interested in the mood and anxiety disorders I treat, and call up asking for help or information.
Finally I thought: "hey, if I just wrote a lot of this stuff down and posted it on a website, my patients and my primary care colleagues could just go look anytime they wanted; and I can put up new information as soon as it becomes available!"
So my hospital website folks helped me get a site launched (Thanks, Julie and Heather), and now it has grown to include all sorts of different essays, diagrams, and links I wanted my patients or my colleagues to have.
My long-term goal is to provide quality education on topics where information on the Internet is scattered or non-existent, as it was in the case of "bipolar II" Welcome I hope you find something useful.
http://www.bipolarworld.net
Mission Statement
- to provide a safe, interactive, self-help environment for individuals with Bipolar Disorder to meet, share, and support each other
- to provide timely information and education about Bipolar Disorder - what it is, how it is diagnosed and how it is treated
- to provide advice through web links with professionals
- to treat all individuals as equal, and to do our part to eradicate stigma as related to mental illness in general, and bipolar disorder in particular
- to provide peripheral support where possible to families and friends
Our Goals (short and long term)
To review and improve security measures
To organize tasks into a document so each of us knows what our responsibilities are
To grow and seek new members (term used loosely) through the addition of more material, more efficient linking of the site and attention to detail
To become self supporting through acceptance of donations
To become "THE" authoritative Bipolar Disorder site of this type on the internet
http://www.allaboutdepression.com
Welcome to "All About Depression!" We are dedicated to providing accurate, current, and relevant information about clinical depression to the general public. The availability of good, factual information is important in helping millions of people affected by depression to understand that they are not alone, that help is available, and that they can feel better!
Mission
The mission of All About Depression is to provide accurate, current, and relevant information about clinical depression for the general public. The availability of good, factual information is important in helping millions of people affected by depression to understand that they are not alone, that help is available, and that they can feel better!
It is Dr. Price's intention to keep this site free of bias or misleading information, and to offer content that is based on research and/or appropriate authoritative resources.
The Development of All About Depression
All About Depression was originally launched in July 2000 as part of Dr. Price's doctoral dissertation. She was interested in learning what information people wanted to know about clinical depression via the internet. She began to develop All About Depression as a means of providing information and asking participants to respond to her online survey (Depression Information Survey, see survey results). Dr. Price has continued to make the site and survey available while adding content and additional features over time.
Ownership and Financial Support
All About Depression is completely owned, managed, and financed by Prentiss Price, Ph.D. No other parties have control or influence over content that is presented on this web site. In December of 2002, Dr. Price became an Amazon.com "Associate" whereby visitors can purchase books through the Amazon.com web site. This may provide the only outside monetary support to help defray costs incurred for web hosting services for All About Depression.
About the Author/Designer
Dr. Prentiss Price received her doctoral degree in Counseling Psychology from the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. She is currently a Counseling Psychologist at Georgia Southern University's Counseling and Career Development Center. She conducts individual therapy with students, facilitates workshops and outreach programming, handles crisis intervention, and teaches when time permits. Her clinical interests include career/vocational counseling, depression, anxiety, stress management, assertiveness, and psychoeducation.
In her "previous life," Dr. Price was an artist for more than ten years at Hallmark Cards, Inc. in Kansas City, Missouri. She currently enjoys expressing her artistic skills in designing web sites, particularly about mental health issues. She also has interests in Internet research and usability issues. Dr. Price is also Content Director for WorkplaceBlues.com
I truly hope you find All About Depression to be a useful web site as you seek information about depression for yourself and/or others in your life. I certainly welcome your comments or suggestions as I continue to update and improve this site. THANKS SO MUCH to everyone who has waited patiently for me to finish All About Depression. Your encouragement and kind words have made the hard work very worthwhile! You are welcome to e-mail me at pprice@allaboutdepression.com, or write to me at the Counseling and Career Development Center, P.O. Box 8011, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA 30460-8011. Please also consider responding to my survey to let me know what kinds of information you are interested in having available on this web site. Thank you for visiting All About Depression! -- Prentiss Price, Ph.D
http://www.pendulum.org
Scope of Pendulum Resources
Pendulum Resources is a peer support organization and information provider and makes no other claims. Pendulum Resources is maintained by consumers; therefore, information on this site is not to be construed as medical advice. Rather, it provides general information and support for previously diagnosed conditions. We do not provide specific medical advice. See your mental health or health care provider for diagnosis and for answers to specific medical questions.
Pendulum.org is now part of the non-profit group of sites that includes moodswing.org and schizophrenia.com.
To Contact us, send an email to szwebmaster at yahoo.com
Funding - Pendulum Resources is still not-for-profit. Funding comes from donations, Amazon.com book sales, and advertisements.
***I had problems with text errors on this page, if you spot any, please e-mail me, and I will correct them asap. John
