Break the Bipolar Cycle: A Day-by-Day Guide to Living with Bipolar Disorder by Brondolo, Elizabeth, Amador, Xavier (2007) Paperback

by Elizabeth Brondolo

A symptom-specific guide to help you or your loved ones deal with bipolar disorder People suffering from bipolar disorder may have difficulty differentiating the vicious ups and downs of their bipolar cycle from the stress and strain of everyday life. Written by two specialists and based on the latest research in neurobiology and stress, this is the only guide to identify, isolate, and address these symptoms individually and prescribe appropriate actions for each situation.This life-changing book shows you how to team with your friends, loved ones, and doctors to formulate an effective plan to battle the disorder. It also contains many exercises to help you manage your symptoms and move forward with your personal goals.

Genres: Nonfiction, Psychology, Mental Health, Self Help, Health, Mental Illness

Paperback

First published December 20, 2007

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

most beneficial to family & loved ones to understand / insight for the most part in layman's terms what life is like for those of us affected by this illness on a day to day basis.

[Carol Stoddard]

This is a useful book, although it can sound relentlessly optimistic at times. It's not a book to read once and put down, it's a book for going back to when life presents another challenge. Lots of examples, exercises, and lots of encouraging words. I recommend it.

[Patty · Rating 1 out of 5]

Written in a very simple style that comes off as condescending at times. The print is large and the margins very wide, so there's less info there than you'd think.

The authors gloss over serious side effects of bipolar treatments and overstate efficacy, giving false hopes. They give helpful advice like if you get sexual side effects from your medications, perhaps you should just do without sex. That's a good way to keep your marriage going strong! The worksheets were far too basic for me, but could be helpful to some. The reason I gave the book 1 star is because it's wrong, imo, to gloss over the serious, often life-shortening, side effects of antipsychotic drugs especially. The authors are deliberately withholding informed consent by downplaying those side effects. Or else they have no Zyprexa-taking 300 lb patients with diabetes in their practices?

On other websites, I would have given in 2 stars, but 2 stars means it was OK on this website. I disliked the book, but didn't HATE it. I did read it. Normally I reserve 1 star for books or movies I hate so much I don't finish them.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not a book for a person at the throws of the bipolar disorders. In an episode of mania, depression and mixed state one could not grasp how to cope because of the state that one is in. With that said it is a good book for if someone during a time od euthymia (normal baseline of mood).

Working through the book I found that there are things that I can improve on and will as I catch myself in certain things like noticing my stress level is at it maxing point or understanding the difficulty of a challenge- example course load for college. The graphs are easy to follow (but sometimes hard to do like the history of your medication especially when there is a gap in memory than to the disorder)

Overall it is a good book for someone who has found some stability and is willing to work through the disorder to prevent relapse or minimize the episode duration.

[Bridgett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very useful and detailed book about Bipolar. I learned a lot and related to much the book covered.

[Gregory Boyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read for anyone with bipolar disorder, it is informative and helpful for such anyone struggling with this illness.

[Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5 informative
4/5 writing style
Extremely helpful for friends, family, and people living with BSD

[Stacy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent resource for anyone wanting to better understand bipolar disorder, either for themself or a loved one.

[Hazel Mcnamara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of it was fluff or maybe just hard to accept stuff, a lot of it was very helpful

[Susan J Benna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Basic But Helpful

Basic concepts. A bit light on techniques. Individual stories were helpful. Give this quick read and don’t spend too much time looking for golden suggestions.

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant book about Bipolar but not one I'd recommend as a first read for the newly diagnosed. However some where down the track have a read of this. It outlines what actually happens in the brain with bipolar, and then tackles really useful subjects including "I just want things to go back the way they were", "I just don't fee like it" (about the problems with motivation), "If I'm taking my medication why do I feel bad again?", "Just when I felt ok I got sick again", and "I thought I was smart but I just can't perform".

Such a helpful book, felt like it was written just for me.

Highly recommended.

[Blame Bipolar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book because it talked about how those diagnosed with bipolar disorder face information processing problems that affect them at work and school. I've read 3-4 books and countless articles on bipolar disorder, and I felt like this book offerend a unique perspective. There are also some worksheets at the end of each chapter.

I bought this as an eBook (so I could read it in public without getting judgemental looks) but I recommend getting the hard copy in order to use the worksheets. I'm going to buy a hard copy just for that purpose.

[Cate · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a management plan, I suppose this could work for some people if they had the energy and organization to track and graph much of their external factors and personal responses. I question how many people could actually make use of such tool when in crisis.
However, as a guide to understanding the many ways this disease can affect a person and the wide range of symptoms that could be present (thereby helping loved ones understand much more about the personal realities of living with BSD), this book is impressively clear and accurate.

[Sebastien · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a newly diagnosed bipolar one, I'm happy to find this kind of information since they're helping to cope, understand and move on. What's more amazing in this book is that nothing is hidden even the hard time : what's even more amazing is that it's done in a non threatening way. We can prevail. We're not stained - it's just another thing that has to be taken into account.
Now I'm gonna let people around me read it so they can understand what I'm going thru and get a better feeling of it.

Loved it !

[Meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book provides the explanation and a way for people suffering from bi polar to get out from under the burden and stigma of this devastating illness providing that they acknowledge that they have the illness.
The charts and the explanations make it very easy.
The book also provides insight for the rest of us, living with those who have this brain disorder to understand and perhaps guide in the process.

[Abnoos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy literature, genera information and practical tips for the patients and the purpose of self help. I liked it because you can read and highlight it and give it to others. I specially recommend it because out of all the books I read about BP, it's the first one which sets realistic perspectives in the course of treatment, and more emphasis on the BP person rather than an ideal support team.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was curious to learn more about bipolar disorder, and this book was a good introduction. I felt like I got a good understanding of the symptoms of the disorder and the struggles that people with bipolar disorder endure. There were exercises at the end of each chapter that seemed like they would be helpful, and one chapter in particular, I thought was useful for anyone.

[Faith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the book. It had wonderful graphs and information that that helped me figure my daily life. I had hard time at the end with scheduling because my day is spent at home or going to group or the library for more resources.

[Dawn Wells · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my cup of tea but I guess if you are an organized bipolar, who likes graphs, charts and list. It may be for you which may be a soft bipolar?

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Explains A LOT!!!