Bipolar Disorder

Today is World Bi-Polar Day, a day to bring awareness to bipolar disorders and reduce the stigma associated with bipolar disorders.  Here are ten books on bipolar disorder.

The Bipolar Disorder Survival Guide: What You and Your Family Need to Know by David Jay Miklowitz PhD - Thanks to sharper diagnosis and better medicine, the future is brighter for people with bipolar disorder than in past generations. But if you or someone you love is struggling with the frantic highs and crushing lows of this illness, there are still many hurdles to surmount at home, at work, and in daily life.
*How can you learn to distinguish between the early warning signs of mood swings and the normal ups and downs of life?
*What medications are available, and what are their side effects?
*What should you do when you find yourself escalating into mania or descending into depression?
*How can you get the help and support you need from family members and friends?
*How can you tell your coworkers about your illness without endangering your career?
In this comprehensive guide, Dr. David J. Miklowitz offers straight talk that can help you tackle these and related questions, take charge of your illness, and reclaim your life. A leading researcher and clinical specialist who knows what works, Dr. Miklowitz supplies proven tools to help you achieve balance--and free yourself from the emotional and financial havoc that result when symptoms rule your life--without sacrificing your right to rich and varied emotional experiences.

Bipolar Disorder: A Guide for Patients and Families by Francis Mark Mondimore MD - A handbook for persons with bipolar disorder, and their families. It offers a practical guide to the symptoms, diagnosis, treatment and causes of this potentially devastating psychiatric illness, formerly known as manic-depression. Dr Frank Mondimore offers advice on getting the most out of the various treatments that are now available -from medication, psychotherapy and electroconvulsive treatment to new approaches such as St John's wort and transcranial magnetic stimulation. For each, he discusses advantages, disadvantages, side effects and other information to help patients make informed decisions about treatment options.

Bipolar Disorder: A Guide for the Newly Diagnosed by Janelle Caponigro MA, Erica Lee MA, Sheri L. Johnson PhD, & Ann M. Kring PhD - Bipolar Disorder: A Guide for the Newly Diagnosed is a pocket guide to symptom management, treatments, medications, and more for people who have been recently diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Includes guidance for processing the diagnosis, sharing it with family and friends, and finding experts who can help get symptoms under control.

Bipolar, Not So Much: Understanding Your Mood Swings and Depression by Chris Aiken MD and James Phelps MD - Depression confuses the mind, strips away hope, and causes people to blame themselves for an illness they never asked for. This book presents a revolutionary new understanding of the concept of depression and offers readers skills and strategies to manage it.  No longer is this a one-size-fits-all diagnosis, and antidepressants are no longer the one-size-fits-all treatment. Mood disorders are now seen to form a spectrum of problems, from common depression on one end to full bipolar disorder on the other. In between these extremes are multitudes of people who are on the middle of the mood spectrum, and this book is for them.The first part of the book helps readers answer the question, "Where am I on the mood spectrum?" By laying the foundation for understanding this spectrum, Aiken and Phelps highlight the key distinctions that define unipolarity, bipolarity, hypomania, mania, and depression. Readers will be able to discern which definition best fits their experience, and use this understanding to learn which treatment methods will work best.  The authors also empower readers to look beyond antidepressants. They walk readers through new medications for the mood spectrum, and offer a guide to non-medication treatments that anyone can use on their own, from diet and lifestyle changes to natural supplements. The book also discusses other innovative technologies that can aid in recovery, including dawn simulators, mood apps, and blue-light filters.      This thoughtful and beneficial book will offer readers skills and strategies, as well as hope, in the face of debilitating mental challenges.

Facing Bipolar: The Young Adult's Guide to Dealing with Bipolar Disorder by Russ Federman PHD and J. Anderson Thomson Jr MD - When you travel to a new city, it helps to have a map close at hand. On the first day of school, you need to have your schedule of classes. And if you've been diagnosed with bipolar disorder or suspect you may have it, then it's even more important to have a guidebook within reach.
Facing Bipolar will help you navigate the world of medications, therapists, and the up-and-down mood cycles common to the disorder. It clearly explains what bipolar disorder is and provides sound guidance for developing the necessary coping skills to manage its impact on your life.
In this book you'll discover:
How therapy and medications can help
When and how to tell your friends, roommates, and teachers
The four key factors that will bring more stability to your life
How to develop a support network and access college resources
Ways to overcome the challenges in accepting this illness

Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo & Me by Ellen Forney - Cartoonist Ellen Forney explores the relationship between "crazy" and "creative" in this graphic memoir of her bipolar disorder, woven with stories of famous bipolar artists and writers.
Shortly before her thirtieth birthday, Forney was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Flagrantly manic and terrified that medications would cause her to lose creativity, she began a years-long struggle to find mental stability while retaining her passions and creativity.
Searching to make sense of the popular concept of the crazy artist, she finds inspiration from the lives and work of other artists and writers who suffered from mood disorders, including Vincent van Gogh, Georgia O'Keeffe, William Styron, and Sylvia Plath. She also researches the clinical aspects of bipolar disorder, including the strengths and limitations of various treatments and medications, and what studies tell us about the conundrum of attempting to "cure" an otherwise brilliant mind.
Darkly funny and intensely personal, Forney's memoir provides a visceral glimpse into the effects of a mood disorder on an artist's work, as she shares her own story through bold black-and-white images and evocative prose.

Perfect Chaos: A Daughter's Struggle with Bipolar and a Mother's Journey to Save Her by Linea Johnson and Cinda Johnson - The Johnsons were a close and loving family living in the Seattle area - two parents, two incomes, two bright and accomplished daughters. They led busy lives filled with music lessons, college preparation, career demands, and laughter around the dinner table. Then the younger daughter, Linea, started experiencing crippling bouts of suicidal depression. Multiple trips to the psych ward resulted in a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, and it took many trial runs of drugs and ultimately electroshock therapy to bring Linea back. But her family never gave up on her. And Linea never stopped trying to find her way back to them.
Perfect Chaos is the story of a mother and daughter's journey through mental illness towards hope. From initial worrying symptoms to long sleepless nights to cross-country flights and the slow understanding and rebuilding of trust, Perfect Chaos tells Linea and Cinda's harrowing and inspiring story, of an illness that they conquer together every day. It is the story of a daughter's courage, a mother's faith, and the love that carried them through the darkest times.

Two Bipolar Chicks Guide to Survival: Tips for Living with Bipolar Disorder by Wendy K. Williamson and Honora Rose - From the "Two Bipolar Chicks", Wendy K. Williamson and Honora Rose, comes this survival guide disguised as a low-key, how to manual. From their wellness vaults, they compiled three decades worth of tips for you. Filled with insightful anecdotes and personal viewpoints - which can differ - Wendy and Honora steer you through the swamps of bipolar disorder and teach you how to dodge the alligators.
From advice on medication, to their own, personal journeys with acceptance, you'll pick up tips on managing depression and mania. There is plenty of factual advice and information on treatments and tidbits for the novice, the pros and everyone in between. It could be an asset to anyone navigating the bipolar waters. Two Bipolar Chicks Guide to Survival: Tips for Living with Bipolar Disorder is the consummate bipolar mix of everything you'll want - and need - inside.
The most delicious part is it isn't bogged down with scientific jargon, though they do explain what you need to know. You'll hear more from the author you've grown to love and the co-author you soon will. It's their personal insight that will make this a unique book. Divulging tidbits from manic sex and internet sites to how to not blow your life savings when in a manic episode, they blow the lid off telling it like it is.

Voices of Bipolar Disorder: The Healing Companion: Stories for Courage, Comfort, and Strength edited by The Healing Project - Heartbreaking and yet humorous, this inspirational collection includes personal stories from more than 40 diverse people who are living with bipolar disorder--a condition that affects some five million Americans. Each story reveals strategies used to cope with the varying symptoms--from mania and depression to recklessness and listlessness--and offers insight into what it is like to have this mood instability disorder. Paired with essays from renowned medical researchers on the science of the disease and a comprehensive resources section on where to get help, these first-hand accounts illustrate the strength of the human spirit and offer the advice and encouragement essential to recovery. For those seeking bravery, consolation, strength, and understanding, this collection of stories is an invaluable and uplifting resource.

Welcome to the Jungle: Everything You Wanted to Know About Bipolar But Were Too Freaked Out to Ask by Hilary Smith - Bipolar is one of the most commonly diagnosed emotional/psychiatric condition and diagnosis tends to come when one is in one's late teens or early 20s. And yet almost nothing has been written about it from eye level and a young person's perspective. Welcome to the Jungle fills that gap with its upfront, empowering approach to the challenges of being diagnosed bipolar. Both humorous and immensely honest, it offers a true "in the trenches" perspective young readers will trust.

With chapters ranging from What Just Happened?: Life Beyond Diagnosis to Here Be Downers: Drugs, Booze, and Suicide to Hippy Shit That Actually Works: Herbs, Wilderness Time, and Other Ways to Help Keep Your Shit Together to Hell is Finding Good Insurance: How to Get Your Ass Covered in Troubled Times, Smith brings bipolar self help to the street level.