Synopses & Reviews
If you buy just one book on bipolar disorder, let this be it. Theres an old saying: Prevention is better than cure.” If you have bipolar disorder, this is especially true. For you, it's incredibly important to read the warning signs of a possible episode. For instance, you may find you are not sleeping as well as usual, or you might be sleeping too much. You may stop doing things that you normally enjoy, or you may start acting out your impulses in ways that alienate those around you or get you into trouble.
While the path to wellness for those with bipolar may involve psychiatric visits and medication adjustments, preventing manic and depressive episodes is the true key to staying healthy and happy. So how do you do it? And most importantly, how can you keep yourself motivated? In this powerful, breakthrough book, bipolar expert Ruth C. White shares her own personal approach to relapse prevention using the innovative program SNAP (Sleep, Nutrition, Activity, and People). White also offers practical tips and tracking tools you can use anytime, anywhere. By making necessary lifestyle adjustments, you can maintain balanced moods, recognize the warning signs of an oncoming episode, and make the necessary changes to reduce or prevent it.
This is the first and only book on bipolar disorder that focuses exclusively on prevention. To help you stay well, White includes links to helpful online tracking tools so that you can manage your symptoms, anytime, anywhere. If you are ready to stop living in fear of your next episode, this life-changing book can help you take charge of your diagnosisand your life.
Review
Bipolar disorder represents one of the most complex and challenging mental health conditions. Self-management or wellness strategies are a critical part of achieving optimal health and quality of self when living with the condition.
Preventing Bipolar Relapse represents a valuable resource for people who are newly diagnosed, struggling, or just wanting to learn from someone who has been there how best to stay in balance. Packed full of evidence-informed tips and tools, this accessible and pragmatic book offers ways for people with bipolar disorder to flourish.”
Erin Michalak, associate professor in the department of psychiatry at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, and coeditor of Practical Management of Bipolar Disorder
Review
Preventing Bipolar Relapse is an essential guide for the consumer and caregiver alike. White's SNAP approach gives the reader an easy method to successfully navigate the complexities of bipolar disorder. Her personal experience offers hope, encouragement, and the tools to prevent relapse.”
Muffy Walker, MSN, MBA, founder and chairman of the board at the International Bipolar Foundation
Review
Maintaining stabilization and relapse prevention is one of the most important and challenging aspects of treatment for bipolar disorder. This is a topic that has rarely been addressed in the integrative way White spells out in her book. Highly recommended ... both for those suffering from bipolar disorder and their loved ones.”
John Preston, PsyD, professor emeritus with Alliant International University, Sacramento
Review
This book written by Ruth C. White is unique. It was written by a trained caregiver who has specialized in the psychosocial treatments of bipolar disorder with an emphasis on prevention. Importantly, White suffers from bipolar disorder, which enables her to provide her own personal approach to better recognize when the condition becomes unstable. White focuses on lifestyle adjustments that can be tailored depending on the individuals circumstances, but without undervaluing the importance of pharmacologic treatment. This volume may be a very valuable tool to aid patients and their care givers to better manage bipolar disorder.”
Mauricio Tohen, MD, DrPH, MBA, professor and chairman in the department of psychiatry at the Health Sciences Center at the University of New Mexico
Review
Ruth C. Whites
Preventing Bipolar Relapse is a leave-no-stone-unturned, skillfully detailed, comprehensive guide to preventive care. Her Sleep, Nutrition, Activity and People (SNAP) program is the missing link between how we have approached relapse management and how we need to going forward. It is a must-read and must-follow for anyone with bipolar disorder, his or her loved ones, or professionals in the field of mental illness. We wish we had this book when we were diagnosed!”
Wendy K. Williamson and Honora Rose, authors of Two Bipolar Chicks Guide to Survival: Tips for Living with Bipolar Disorder
Review
“Finally, a straightforward and compassionate resource for anyone wanting to understand more about bipolar disorder. The combination of personal stories and practical exercises provides a powerful guide to living a balanced and joyful life.”
—Susan Philpott, M.Sc., MSW, mental health supervisor at York Support Services Network in Sutton West, Ontario, Canada
Review
“In this thorough and engaging workbook, Sheri Van Dijk breaks new ground by adapting dialectical behavior therapy for people living with bipolar disorder. This workbook provides patients struggling with this illness with a clear program and real-life day-to-day tools for coping. This workbook will help many people with bipolar disorder find order in their lives. A welcome addition to the helping field.”
—Paul Cappuccio, MSW, RSW, clinical manager of outpatient mental health services as Southlake Regional Health Centre and lecturer at Queens University
Review
“Medication is the foundational treatment for bipolar disorder. However, medication use alone often results in failed relationships, financial demise, and continued symptoms of depression and anxiety. Van Dijk’s Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for Bipolar Disorder can help to increase readers' personal serenity, interpersonal harmony, and intimacy in relationships, and optimize their quality of life. This book is clear, concise, and very readable, filled with wise guidelines that are rewarding and practical to implement.”
—Stephen B. Stokl, MD, FRCP, chief of psychiatry at Southlake Regional Health Centre in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada, and author of Mentally Speaking
Synopsis
For people with bipolar disorder, the path to wellness often involves psychiatric visits and medication adjustments. But what if there was a way to avoid future episodes? In Preventing Bipolar Relapse, bipolar expert Ruth C. White shares her own personal approach to relapse prevention using the innovative program SNAP (Sleep, Nutrition, Activity, and People). White also offers practical tips and tracking tools readers can use anytime, anywhere. By making necessary lifestyle adjustments, readers can maintain balanced moods, recognize the warning signs of an oncoming episode, and make the necessary changes to reduce or prevent it.
Synopsis
The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for Bipolar Disorder provides readers with DBT skills such as mindfulness, emotion regulation, and radical acceptance to help them move away from the destructive behaviors that often accompany bipolar disorder.
Synopsis
Even if you've just been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, it's likely that you've been living with it for a long time. You've probably already developed your own ways of coping with recurring depression, the consequences of manic episodes, and the constant, uncomfortable feeling that you're at the mercy of your emotions. Some of these methods may work; others might do more harm than good. The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for Bipolar Disorder will help you integrate your coping skills with a new and effective dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) plan for living well with bipolar disorder.
The four DBT skills you'll learn in this workbook-mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness-will help you manage your emotional ups and downs and minimize the frequency and intensity of depressive and manic episodes. By using this book in conjunction with medication and professional care, you'll soon experience relief from your bipolar symptoms and come to enjoy the calm and confident feeling of being in control.
- Learn mindfulness and acceptance skills
- Cope with depressive and manic episodes in healthy ways
- Manage difficult emotions and impulsive urges
- Maintain relationships with friends and family members
Synopsis
In Overcoming Bipolar Disorder, a prestigious team of researchers and experts on bipolar disorder presents this research-based program for helping people with bipolar disorder manage symptoms, explore triggers and coping responses, and develop a comprehensive plan for living a full life based on core values and goals.
Synopsis
A doctor may understand the symptoms of bipolar disorder and your close friends and relatives may know your manic and depressive phases inside and out, but only you have experienced your bipolar disorder firsthand. This workbook will help you learn how to recognize your mania and depression triggers, develop coping skills for managing symptoms, form more productive partnerships with your healthcare providers, and keep your life in balance as you work toward your goals.
The authors' Life Goals Program has already helped hundreds of people with bipolar disorder understand how bipolar works and take charge of their lives. Overcoming Bipolar Disorder makes Life Goals Program techniques available to the public for the first time, giving you the tools you need to create an action plan for symptom management designed specifically for you. You'll also discover how simple changes to your eating, exercise, and sleeping habits can improve your mood and keep symptoms at bay.
Overcoming Bipolar Disorder is about more than just medication. New research shows that learning specific skills to manage bipolar disorder can significantly reduce symptoms and help to maintain long-term balance
. It should be an important resource for people living with bipolar disorder and for concerned family members.-Gregory Simon, MD, MPH, psychiatrist and researcher at Group Health Cooperative in Seattle, WA
About the Author
Ruth C. White, PhD, is assistant professor of social work at Seattle University in Seattle, WA. She received her doctorate in social welfare from the University of California, Berkeley. She has worked in mental health for many years, and for the last seven years has taught and trained social workers as a member of the faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of Seattle University. She is a member of the National Speakers Bureau of the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance.
The guiding principles of Dr. White's scholarship are that it is to be rigorous, relevant, useful, and integrated into the other aspects of Dr. White's career. During Dr. White's almost 20-year career as a scholar and practitioner, her research has focused on social determinants of health and well-being, HIV/AIDS, community development, international social work and maternal and child health. Dr. White's research is community-driven with the community as equal partners throughout the research process.
Dr. White has also begun to create a body of work that expands her study of stigma into the mental health arena which grew out of her own experience with mental illness. The goal of this aspect of her work is to use her multiple positions as social work educator, researcher, author and person with mental illness to reduce the stigma of mental illness, empower those with mental illnesses to strive for mental well-being and advocate on their own behalf, and, to improve the quality and accessibility of services to the mentally ill.
Dr. White's expertise has been called upon by her colleagues to review work in the area of HIV/AIDS, maternal and child health for organizations such as the American Public Health Association, the American Journal of Health Behavior, AIDS Care, and the National Science Foundation