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

by David J. Miklowitz

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. Philosophers with a deterministic bent might take exception to the accounts of bipolar patients who discover that, despite the limitations of their illness, they are still able to use their decision-making capacity--their free will--to minimize the effects of their mood swings on their lives.

The author has an impressive educational and research background and has earned numerous awards for the outstanding quality of his work. The insights he shares with us were not acquired simply by reading the voluminous literature on bipolar disorder, although his doctoral and post-doctoral studies required enough of that; during more than fifteen years of clinical practice and research, Miklowitz has been personally involved in the care and treatment of hundreds of bipolar patients and their families.

Part I, "The Diagnosis and Course of Bipolar Disorder," describes the symptoms of bipolar disorder, how it is diagnosed and explains how difficult it is for some individuals to accept the diagnosis, which they consider tantamount to "a life sentence."

Throughout this section of the book, the author, rather than defining concepts, gives examples of actual episodes of depressive and manic behavior, unusual thoughts, suicidal ideation, sleep disturbance, and impulsive, self-destructive and addictive behaviors. This reviewer counted more than twenty-five separate examples of individuals with bipolar disorder, who were quoted and described, adding substance and verisimilitude to the four chapters of this section.

In this introductory part of his book, the author begins his emphasis on the active part the patient should play in his own diagnosis and treatment. Rather than unequivocally accepting whatever diagnosis is offered by his doctor, the patient is given a self-administered checklist to be used in arriving at his own diagnostic impression and is advised to question his doctor about possible diagnostic errors. He is given a list and descriptions of other psychiatric disorders often confused with bipolar disorder to assist him in the diagnostic dialogue with his doctor. Differential diagnoses to be considered include: Schizophrenia; ADHD: Borderline Personality Disorder; Cyclothymia; Recurrent Major Depressive Disorder; and Substance Induced Mood Disorder.

In Chapter 4, "Is It an Illness or Is It Me?" Miklowitz advises patients to accept the diagnosis once it is firmly established rather than trying to manage their feelings by rejecting or underidentifying with it. However he also warns against overidentifying and provides the patient with another self-administered checklist to help him differentiate between personality traits and normal mood swings on the one hand, and symptoms of mania or depression on the other.

The three chapters of Part II, "Causes and Treatments," discuss the genetic and experiential factors that combine to bring about bipolar disorders; how medication and psychotherapy can be best used by the patient to control his symptoms; and how to win the many arguments he has with himself about the need to continue taking medications despite their inevitable side effects.

As he did in Part I, the author continues to emphasize the importance of the patient's assuming control of his life, rather than turning it over to medication prescribers, psychotherapists, family members, or other caretakers.

To help understand the genetic component of his disorder, the patient is shown the family pedigree of a known bipolar patient and is given forms to use in drawing his own pedigree. There is also a form to use in determining what role stress has played in the causation and course of his disorder.

Patients are discouraged from blaming their parents for their genetic contribution to the disorders, or other family members for their contributions in the form of stress and conflict. Rather than wasting time and energy in finger-pointing, or bemoaning the fact that they have a disorder, patients are encouraged to learn how to best use available treatment modalities to minimize the symptoms and to find success and satisfaction in their lives despite their disorder.

Chapters 6, "What Can Medication and Psychotherapy Do for Me?" and 7, "Coming to Terms With Your Medication," provide a wealth of detail about different kinds of psychotherapy and medications, giving equal emphasis to the positive treatment effects and negative side effects. To re-emphasize the importance of patient-participation in all treatment modalities, Miklowitz lists the objectives of psychotherapy for persons with bipolar disorder. He also provides a form to be used by patients to keep a daily record of side effects they may experience with all medications prescribed, and another form entitled "THE PROS AND CONS OF TAKING MEDICATION." where the pa...

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

Audiobook

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Bob · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was a major disappointment. I was led to believe that this book would be different, that it would take a different & fresh view of this problem that seems to plague so many. In the end this book simply repeats what everyone else says about any kind of “mental illness” –take your meds, they are good for you, and you are not marked or stigmatized for life though in a sense you really are.

On page 75 the author says, “You have an underlying biochemical disturbances w/which you may have been born. These disturbances can include your brain’s over- or underproduction of neurotransmitters…” However he never gets around to proving it. I ask; how are these chemical levels detected or measured? What tests reveal over- or underproduction? These questions remain unanswered until page 88 where he says; “Despite promising research, THERE IS NO DEFINITIVE BIOLOGICAL OR GENETIC TEST FOR CHEMICL IMBALANCES IN BIPOLAR DISORDER.

What you get is “we think that in bipolar disorder, certain chemicals…” & “we strongly suspect that people w/bipolar disorder have disturbances…” & “We believe that some of these neurotransmitters…” The author uses the blood pressure analogy, however we KNOW people have hyper-tension because we can scientifically measure their blood pressure, doctor’s don’t say well we think you have high blood pressure (because if they did we would say then measure it!) they know you do. To diagnose someone as bipolar is to do so based on how they answer a few questions.

Then when the writer gets to managing the disorder he basically offers what has been prescribed in the Bible for hundreds of years. In the end he simply shows that the difficulties that people are having are the normal ups & downs of life & they have not managed well or reacted well to. Then he throws in some scientific sounding words to describe one’s reactions and you now have a disease which will require mood altering drugs for the rest of your life.

There is no real hope offered to anyone here; especially for those who have been labeled ‘Bipolar’.

[Zakirah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read it halfway and found it really helpful. The first few chapters talk about patients' stories and gave a heartwarming and hopeful introduction to those who were just diagnosed with bipolar. In my country, there's a lot of social stigma attached on mental/mood disorders and reading this book makes me feel less lonely and hopeful. It also provides guidelines/suggestions on how to identify a manic/hypomanic or depressive episode. I recommend this book to fellow bipolar patients who want to manage and take control over this illness.

[Rebo · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars rounded up.

This is an excellent, comprehensive book that covers all the basics related to bipolar disorder. It's especially helpful for those who have been recently diagnosed, and includes a lot of exercises and worksheets to help you and your family manage the disorder more effectively.

I found the chapters on medications, how to detect the early warning signs of a manic or depressive episode, and the special considerations that women with bipolar disorder must deal with particularly interesting.

A good reference and one I'd definitely recommend, whether you've recently been diagnosed or a friend or family member has.

[Ian Reynir · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was impressed ith Miklowitz's journal articles, but his dumbing down of the truth is not good for high-functioning bipolars. The average bipolar may find this to be useful, but for deeper understanding and more advanced treatments that really work better, I can't suggest this book.

[Iulia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A comprehensive book on bipolar disorder based on the latest research

[Maria Skoczyńska · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good merithorical position, both scientific and hopeful, for those who wants to learn how learn to live one's life to its fullest. It also helps friends and family members to understand more how to react accordingly when dealing with bipolar.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent resource for anyone with bipolar disorder. It is straightforward with the facts, but delivers them with gentleness and compasssion. I highly recommend it to consumers, families, friends, and people just curious about how mental illness manifests itself.

[Bridgett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book very thorough and it helped me understand the more "negative" emotions that can occur during mania.

[Rosa]

Creo que se nota que no me lo he leído por gusto

[A Manatee · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would have to say this book provides quite a plethora of not only useful, but practical information as well as guidance on how to go about organizing one's life. I must say, I think the author isn't so bad himself.

I would recommend this book to anyone with bipolar disorder that wants a way to incorporate a few tips and tricks with how to deal with their particular situation in life.

In fact I'd say I highly recommend this book, for the tips and tricks, though.

I don't agree with a lot of view points of psychiatry as it stands today. And after reconsideration, I'll keep those opinions to my self.

If you have access to a copy machine, give this book a read, and make some copies of the more detailed pages. Take what is useful and discard the rest.

[Keshia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half of the book was informative in detail, but not useful for me as a friend to a bipolar person. The second half seemed better, but this book is really for the person who has it. (got to page 204 out of 322)

[Laura fleck · Rating 5 out of 5]

was very helpful...........

[Andrius Baležentis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Puiki knyga kaip įrankis žmonėms, kurie aplinkoje yra iš arti susidūrę su šia liga- daug informacijos, metodikų, įžvalgų, planų. Gavau viską ko tikėjausi ir daugiau.

[Dom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and very needed. I was agreeing with a lot of the symptoms and this really helped.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was super helpful and informative concerning BP 1 and BP 2. I thought it was very helpful and informative. It uses everyday terminology to really inform you about being bipolar. It covered a variety of topics as well. There is even a specific chapter for women. I like the worksheets and strategies that are included. You can even go to a website and print out your own copies of the worksheets. I would highly recommend this book, along with the book “Why am I Still Depressed” for anyone who is interested. I would even suggest it for families or support systems of people diagnosed with Bipolar 1 and 2.
Knowledge is power and I feel like this book really helped me understand my diagnosis of Bipolar 2. A lot of books concerning bipolar only focus on bipolar 1 disorder, so finding a book that focused on all bipolar disorders is as an important find.
I would suggest that you take your time reading this. Highlight things that are helpful to you. Do the worksheets. Include your therapist and psychiatrist. Put in the work the understand yourself or a loved one better. Highly recommend!

[Raghad Mansoor · Rating 3 out of 5]

The audiobook was long but it actually was really helpful. There were a lot of tips and ways to cope with each side of being bipolar. Started from the day you’re diagnosed, the ups and downs from being manic to deeply depressed and it went on deep detail about suicidal thoughts. I think having the hard copy version can be more useful as you would be able to actually re-read the tips and use them, but it was helpful as well to get a set of ideas that you can create something out of them that works for you. It talked too in great detail about how to deal with family and friends while you're having trouble(from the patient point of view), but honestly wasn’t much of a guide for family members or friends as it says in the title.
Also there's one thing that bothered me a lot. When he started talking about how to evaluate your mood and symptoms he referred a lot to ”normal” by saying less than normal more than normal without any further explanation as to what is exactly ”normal”

[Tracy Schillemore · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of information. Good for anybody starting off e.

[Nela · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is exactly what the title says, nothing more, nothing less. A good guide, in my view. Patient centered and there are not many out there with easy to follow language

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Id probably rate this book 5 stars 10 years ago. If you were just diagnosed, this is arguably the best and most dense resource you could find on everything psychiatry/orthodox mental health professionals know about Bipolar.

Personally, while I was only recently diagnosed with BP I have spent the last decade working in the field of psychology, learning and implementing 90% of whats in this book (and discarding the strategies that dont work for me or that im not interested in ex medication).

Part of me wants to give the book 2 stars given that 90% of it was repeat information to me and thus was kind of boring, however i believe it deserves 3 stars for being a great resource for noobies and also due to the authors clear intent to help those with BP.

Personally I would have liked to hear a lot more about the evolutionary utility of bipolar temperament and how to leverage it in the modern world for massive creative output rather than the typical view of only its downsides (eg it as a disorder rather than a temperament) but i understand that thinking of BP (or any other “‘mental illness”) in this way is very heterodox and new.

I envision a book that is to bipolar what Faster Than Normal is to ADHD (eg seen more as a rare temperament than a “disorder” with pro’s and con’s and focusing far more of leveraging the pro’s than on obsessive mitigation of the con’s as the current “disorder” model does).

if anyone reading this knows of a book more in this vain, please comment below.

[Robert Fawcett · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Bipolar Disorder Survival Guide: What You and Your Family Need to Know by David Miklowitz PhD (Guilford Press, 2019) This is an excellent book. Through several editions it has sold over 300,000 copies. As a leading expert in the psychotherapy of bipolar disorder and especially family-focused psychotherapy, Dr. Miklowitz gives lots of helpful tips on dealing with a family member with bipolar disorder. He does a great job discussing psychosocial aspects of bipolar disorder and guiding the reader through numerous self-help strategies, at times adopting a workbook-like format and soliciting data and lists from the reader. The newest edition covers some of the drugs recently approved for bipolar depression and maintenance, but unfortunately publication came too late to cover cariprazine (Vraylar) approved in 2019 for bipolar depression. Miklowitz mentions electroconvulsive, transcranial magnetic stimulation, and bright light treatment briefly, but makes no reference to a controlled study combining bright light and sleep deprivation for successful treatment of bipolar depression. Other biological factors not discussed in depth by The Bipolar Survival Guide include diet and exercise. There are good chapters on bipolar disease in youth and in women, and about issues in school and in the workplace for bipolar persons. Case vignettes keep the narrative interesting. Overall The Bipolar Survival Guide deserves its status as the most popular book presenting bipolar disorder to the reading public. Robert Fawcett MD

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very handy all-in-one-place run down on what bipolar disorder is, what makes someone susceptible to developing the disorder, how it's diagnosed, and how it's treated. The section one medications was really well-written and a lot more clear than much of the information I have been able to find online; I'm not sure if there was any influence from drug companies involved, but it felt like a very neutral, well-written article and I wouldn't hesitate to point a friend exploring their medication options toward this section of the book.

There were also a lot of helpful charts and exercises for tracking moods and decreasing the chances of spiraling into a depression or mania laid out in this book as well; I haven't utilized any of these, so I can't speak to their efficacy, but they seem like something I would definitely revisit in the future.

Overall this book is packed with information that's extremely valuable to both people with Bipolar disorder and those who love them.

[Vanessa Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read most of this, and I did not find it helpful when dealing with my most recent manic episode. The mania chapter is very lacking in my opinion. I think this book would have been somewhat more useful when I was newly diagnosed, but I need more than a book detailing the symptoms of bipolar.

[Lilly Ann Wolvesley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Miklowitz is a professor and directs the Integrative Study Center in Mood Disorders and the Child and Adolescent Mood Disorders Program at UCLA’s Semel Institute. The book is a practical, easy to follow guide from diagnosis to striving for wellness while living with Bipolar Disorder. When I was first diagnosed, I was a bit…uncomfortable with the diagnosis. I ordered the Nook book, so no one else knew what I was reading. Miklowitz also offers a book regarding Family-Focused Treatment (FFT). I know little about FFT, but it involves the family and has proven very successful for a number of those with Bipolar Disorder.

[Brandon Benson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great resource and must for recently diagnosed

Relatively short but in depth, it still took me 5 months to get through this from time of diagnosis until now. Partially periods of time willfully not wanting to deal with it, just busy, and trying to absorb it as thoroughly as possible. Outside of your family, psychologist and psychiatrist this is the place to start. Great personal examples. Great medical insight. Helpful for relationships, workplace, daily routine, coping strategies. I wish I could find printable worksheets from the book online.

[Joshua Gage · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot more scientific than the other books that I've read, the bulk of this book discusses Bipolar Disorder from a doctor's perspective, including possible treatments, medications, etc. and all the studies related to them. The actual chapters on dealing with Bipolar Disorder on a day-to-day basis are short and vague. This is a great book for people trying to understand the disorder, but not too helpful for someone trying to battle it daily.

[Christine Fay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an important book for anyone with BPD or with a family member who has BPD to read. There are a lot of helpful strategies for dealing with the challenges that come from living with someone who suffers from the mood swings of bipolar disorder. There is a mood chart, a depression chart, and other valuable tools to help one manage their disease and maximize their lives. There is also emphasis placed on family involvement as being key to self-management as well.

[Kristen (kristenthebibliophile) · Rating 5 out of 5]

very informative. I am considering purchasing a physical copy to lend to loved ones with questions.

* the book as a strong push towards medication, and if you are strongly against meds you could skip those sections and glean other nuggets of information

** for myself, as someone who benefits greatly from the balance the medication provides my brain chemistry, it was a very informative and illuminating section that helped to explain the side affects, pros and cons, etc.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book not as a person with bipolar disorder, nor a family member, but as a physician who deals with recommending treatment for this illness. This book seemed a bit repetitive and simple, but it is an easily-digested way for folks affected by this disease to understand what's happening and prepare for the future. Recommended.

[Eilene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent chapter on suicide & making a suicide prevention plan. And the whole book is more of a "here's what to do about it" instead of just lots of information thrown at you.

I read the entire book, cover to cover, while in the psych hospital for a week. There's not much to do there...

[Stephen Haptonstahl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely required reading if you are bipolar or love someone who is. It's sympathetic, helping the reader understand, question, and accept (if correct) the diagnosis. It's also practical, full of specific actions one can take to manage the condition. If relevant, it's a must-read.