Life With Bipolar Type Two: a guide to stability

by Miss Eleanor Mary Worsley

This book is targeted at people with Bipolar Type Two or those who know someone with the disorder. It is a research and experience based guide to living stably with BPII. Topics covered depression, hypomania, hyper-sexuality, self-harm, medication, psychiatry and stress. It is an accessible and thorough guide to managing your bipolar and living with the disorder.The author herself has Bipolar Type Two and trained as a teacher, so has a vested interest in the content of the book and has the research skills which allow for a well grounded study of the disorder. Useful, broken down into easy to read sections, very comprehensive covering a great many parts of the disorder and its challenges.

207 pages, Paperback

Published September 25, 2019

Reviews

[Carissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a non-threatening book with plenty of information broken into segments because we cannot all concentrate during our first journey or relapse of mental, health. In short, I'm happy to have a read a book about my specific diagnosis that does not lump me in with BP1 or call mine "soft bipolar" because that's weaksauce. It wasn't full of scientific jargon or depressing facts about those with BP2. I recommend it.

These are the pieces that I singled out for my own:
-CBT using a BP2 book (I ended up going with one by Seth Gillihan and it's working so far), but I'm using to doing outpatient CBT so it's a bit weird using a book and self-guidance
-Vitamin D, which I should probably be using since I have Seasonal Affective Disorder as well and use a lightbox in the winter
-Methionine... something which I definitely wanted to learn more about since it says that it can reduce anxious symptoms. I've never heard of it before.
-B vitamins or a complex of them
-accept your diagnosis and come to terms with what you may have lost due to your bipolar (this. this. I still mourn over things that could have been. I'm not sure if I'll get over it.)
-stability is the goal... it may not mean entirely getting rid of symptoms, but better coping with them

My personal favorite part is on page 169 with "Bipolar: friend or foe?"
'No, bipolar is not a friend. Bipolar is not a foe. Bipolar is a part of us we much live with, a housemate to negotiate and share with. Bipolar is a strong force within ourselves which teaches resilience like nothing else.'

[Lizzie Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

So helpful to have all the information on BP2 in one place and not have to skip through irrelevant info. I’ll keep dipping into this book and have gone through it with my highlighter for things to remind myself of.
Especially helpful we’re the sections on managing without treatment and the info on different medications, we need all the info we can to help us make informed decisions. Thank you for putting this book together Eleanor.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really appreciate the effort that went into this book. I found it to be very informative and comprehensive. It does not use the american health care system (for the better lol) but there was still plenty to be learned about dealing with doctors and medications. the author saw a gap in what was available and filled it! thank you Miss Eleanor Mary Worsley!

[Chris Elwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

There aren’t many books specifically about bipolar II. Thankfully this one exists. It’s an excellent comprehensive resource. It has a personal tone that really makes it feel like someone out there understands you, cares and is trying their best to help you.

[Miss Kate Aspinall · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is exactly the book I needed. Thank you Eleanor for sharing your experience. You've made a big difference for me.

[Kim McCool · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, easy to understand. I was able to have a lot of answers to a lot of questions, given i was never explained what it is that i was diagnosed with. Still have questions but this book was a great start to understanding exactly what is bipolar type 2. I strongly recommend.