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THE THERAPIST PSYCHOLOGIST BOOK STORE
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Loving Someone with Bipolar Disorder By Julie A. FastJohn D. Preston ( New Harbinger Publications )
Release Date: 2004-02
Average Customer Rating:
List Price: $14.95
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Product Description
When a person loves someone with bipolar disorder, life can be very stressful. From medication troubles to a partner's mood swings the demands on a partner can be intense. Loving Someone with Bipolar Disorder takes a unique and practical approach to these issues. Written by an author who has bipolar disorder (and who lived with a partner who also has bipolar disorder) and a coauthor with over ten books on the topic of mental illness, the book offers specific, practical and realistic tips on how a couple can work together as a team to create a treatment plan that teaches them to live with the illness while still maintaining a loving and joyful relationship. (Though this book is written for couples, friends and family members can use the techniques in the book as well.) Loving Someone with Bipolar Disorder provides hope and encourages couples to work together to create a plan they can use to help stabilize bipolar disorder so that their relationship can focus on love and companionship instead of the illness. Chapters include ideas on how to create a comprehensive treatment plan that incorporates medications and supplements, diet, exercise and behavior and lifestyle changes into one practical approach to this very serious illness. The partner of a person with bipolar disorder learns about communicating with their partner when they're ill, getting real about the situation and how to take on other roles in healing besides caretaking. Other specific topics include work and money, emotions, sexual issues and much more. The goal of the book is to help couples create a relationship that is based on support and prevention instead of constant crisis control.
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Amazon.com Review
Julie Fast and John Preston have written a ground breaking book for couples who want to prevent manic depressive disorder from hijacking their relationship. Fast, a health writer diagnosed with bipolar illness and clinical psychologist Preston are ideal companions. Their innovative ideas will be welcomed by exhausted partners of "bipolar individuals"--whose illness can cause them to alternate between manic and depressed behavior. Once medication has been prescribed, the key is studying the specific ways your partner is effected. This allows couples to develop pro-active strategies for treating and stabilizing mood swings and symptoms, before they develop into full-blown crises. The techniques emphasize prevention, rather than putting out fires. These include understanding the difference between the person and the disease (know when "the bipolar disorder is talking") listing your partner's specific symptoms, identifying the triggers that lead to these symptoms and transforming the "bipolar conversation" The goal of all the tools is to pinpoint early warning signs of a manic or depressive episode and be prepared with a holistic treatment plan. Other segments of the book deal with the work (checkered resumes) and financial problems (spending sprees) created by this illness. The author's ideas are engaging, compassionate and realistic--an oasis of relief and hope. --Barbara Mackoff
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 a MUST read book for those whose partner is suffering from bipolar disorder
this is definately a strong recommanded book to read. i used to react to my partner when his bipolar episode start. i couldnt recognize when the episode starts, i always end up letting the bipolar hurting me and him.
with the help of this book, i now can recognise the sign of the bipolar and stop it from getting worse when it seems about to start. and we are leading to a healthier relation now.
i strongly recommand to those whose partner is suffering from bipolar disorder. you will know what to do, how to handle ur emotion and at the same time you will be able to help him/her.
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 Excellent tool for both spouse and patient ( kelleezoo2 )
I think some people are missing the point that this book is trying to make. If you are bipolar and take the book to mean you are not to be held accountable for your actions; you are looking for an excuse to act out anyway. This book is meant to be utilized when the patient is well, so that they can learn to avoid those triggers (which are different for everyone) that cause the BP to de-stabilize. It is also meant to help the spouse understand that some of our behaviors are not character flaws but are actually symptoms of the illness (such as attention problems).
I bought this book for my wonderful, patient husband, who was my caretaker after a post-partem bipolar psychosis that lasted for 7 years and has left me disabled. He has not read the book yet; but I did; and the book opened my own eyes as to how my illness affects him on an everyday basis.
We have had nearly every problem the book talks about, even though I am a model patient. I do what I am told in therapy, take the meds, have a strict routine that includes daily exercise and healthy diet. I am very aware of several of my triggers and do my best to avoid them. Yet I still have daily issues with Bipolar Disorder that are severe enough for me to be considered disabled. I am happy for those who have long periods of remission. But it is offensive to read a review that assumes if you aren't stable then you are not taking care of yourself and you should "try harder". (I question the people who go on meds after one depression or mania and never have another episode, I do not believe they have true bipolar disorder.) Bipolar Disorder is a spectrum disorder; there are varying degrees and symptoms. It is also only treatable, not curable, which means that if you are like me, you may have breakthrough episodes even though you take the meds and do everything the doctor says to do (or not do). The "Bipolar Conversation" was very interesting and enlightening for me, and I intend to work hard on awareness of the things I say and do and how they affect others, especially my husband and children.
The only criticism I have is that there needed to be more discussion about medication. Many of us are severely overmedicated (polypharmacy is a big problem), psychiatrists are sometimes less than understanding about medication issues; and when we are medicated to the hilt we must rely on our loved ones to speak for us. Side effects of meds can sometimes be more disabling than the illness itself. Our spouses need to know that it is unacceptable for us to be so medicated we gain 80 pounds, sleep 16 hours a day, or become so restless we can't do anything but pace and mumble. Short-term, yes, but NOT long term. Our spouses need to know it's okay to argue on our behalf to have dosages lowered or discontinued if they are causing these problems after stabilization.
All in all a very informative book.
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Helped at Home
I read this book and Caring: Home Caregiving For A Loved One With Emotional Illness by Dr. Fredric Neuman and now have a better understanding on how to treat a loved one with emotional illness. The way I look at it is that if I can gain at least a few useful tips from these books it just makes life easier and better.
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Wow...
I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder almost 2 years ago and since that time I've found the proper medication and therapy to help me along. I stopped having major depressive and manic episodes but I still had so many behaviors and problems I couldn't explain. I had decided that they stemmed from a personality defect and unless I changed myself, as a person, I could never have a successful relationship.
Upon reading this book it was nearly like reading a memoir of my life. Every unexplainable thing I do was here, things that I never found in any other readings about bipolar disorder. I was always lead to believe that bipolar disorder was so black and white, manic and depressive, and no in between. This book has lead me to be simultaneously relieved and afraid at knowing now why I do the things I do. I feel less ashamed knowing that I wasn't a bad person, and it was really just the disorder. I have the book to thank for that.
The book has an amazing emphasis on not blaming the suffering for behaving the way they do and not thinking that you can talk them out of their symptoms. I appreciate this very much and am glad that there is a book circulating where this is said. I'm also very grateful for a book that says exactly how each individual symptom can be dealt with and is completely tailor made for this disorder, rather than empty, shallow comments about "communication" and "understanding". This book may very well save my relationship. I would recommend this reading for EVERY person suffering from bipolar disorder or those close to the ill.
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Awesome
This book is a MUST HAVE if you live with anyone who suffers from bipolar. It was like reading my life story.
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Addiction
