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This is an excellent overview of bipolar illness and is written for the practicing clinician. It covers bipolar types I and II as well the more subtle “soft” bipolar spectrum disorders.  The comorbid medical, psychiatric and substance abuse problems associated with bipolar illness are examined in detail.  Treatment interventions including pharmacologic, psychotherapeutic, and psychosocial are explained clearly and concisely.  I would highly recommend this book for any clinician, therapist, etc. who works with bipolar patients.  Informed lay people could also benefit from this book as well.

Goodwin and Jamison, 1990: The Bible on MDI circa 1990, this book reviews and summarizes all scientific info on all aspects of this disease (genetics, diagnosis, pathophysiology, subtypes, treatment, etc…) Not an easy read and generally, not for the lay public. Unsurpassed reference work.

The long awaited follow-up to the 1990 definitive and comprehensive text has finally been updated.  The second edition not only maintains the overall quality of authorship of the original, it surpasses its forerunner in presenting its data in more succinct and readable form.  The result is the highest level of scholarship wherein dense levels of information are made palatable by simple but elegant synthesis and writing.  As with the first edition, this book is mainly intended for a professional audience. Starting from the beginning, the 2nd edition adds the subtitle “Bipolar Disorders and Recurrent Depression.”  A subtle but hardly insignificant change.  This shift emphasizes the author’s belief that recurrent affective disorders, regardless of the presence of mania/hypomania, share fundamental diagnostic, etiological and pathophysiologic attributes and that they should rightfully be classified together.  This contrasts with the prevailing American model of diagnostically prying apart mood disorders on the basis of episode polarity.  With this change, Goodwin and Jamison place themselves squarely in the spectrum’ camp of those that see recurrence as the defining essence of bipolarity.

Continue reading » “Manic-Depressive Illness. Bipolar Disorders and Recurrent Depression. 2nd Edition. Goodwin FK & Jamison KR. Oxford University Press, 2007.”

Responding to the general absence of information for the lay public on the less acute forms of manic depressive illness, this book provides a helpful overview of the symptoms, course and diagnosis of these less well-known bipolar subtypes.  Written in ultra-basic, simple language, by Dr. Jim Phelps, the Corvallis, OR psychiatrist behind the incredibly useful website psycheducation.org, this work is designed to familiarize readers with the characteristics of Bipolar Disorder Type II.  But there is another, larger agenda here:  to present a different diagnostic viewpoint on bipolarity itself, one that emphasizes illness course, and specifically recurrence, as the hallmark of the illness.  This, in contrast to the current American schema, exemplified in DSM IV TR that sees episode polarity, specifically mania/hypomania, as the defining essence of the condition. Dr. Phelps explains in a clear, pain-staking and repetitive fashion the rationale for using recurrence as the defining standard, the implications this has for diagnosis (it vastly broadens the scope of the condition to include all other recurrent mood disorders such as recurrent depression, SAD, PMDD, etc…) and for treatment.  With regard to treatment, Dr. Phelps repeatedly emphasizes the hazards that can occur from both antidepressant monotherapy (using antidepressants alone without a mood stabilizer) and using antidepressants in combination with mood stabilizers.  My only quibble here is that this is presented as fact rather than the actual, active controversy that surrounds this issue today.  In my opinion, we are far from agreement on the appropriate role of antidepressants in the treatment of the bipolar depression.  This aside, Dr. Phelps should be commended for authoring a much-needed and easily understood treatise on the spectrum concept in manic depression.

This book is directed at a lay audience and devotes itself to defining and explaining this most common subtype of bipolar illness. This book is very informative for any patient with bipolar II but also has some serious problems. So, first with the good. Dr. Fieve’s writing is clear and concise, and his patient examples are both interesting and appropriate. He differentiates Bipolar II from Bipolar I quite well and explores all of the aspects of bipolar II. He covers the range from genetics to the critical importance of sleep/biological rhythms to the behavioral disturbances (e.g. substance abuse, hypersexuality) associated with bipolar illness. The second half of the text details the diagnostic and treatment modalities and prepares the patient as to what to expect in that process. Comorbid illnesses, such as ADHD and panic disorder, are also discussed.

Continue reading » “Bipolar II: Enhance Your Highs, Boost Your Creativity, and Escape the Cycles of Recurrent Depression–The Essential Guide to Recognize and Treat the Mood Swings of This Increasingly Common Disorder. Ronald Fieve, M.D. Rodale Books, 2006.”

Both literary and scientific, presents info mainly on BPI D/O (but also prodromal and softer forms of illness and their relationship to acute episodes) in accessible form. Beautifully depicts relationship between person’s environment and illness, contextualizes illness in personal history and psychology.

Kay Jamison, 1996.
Mainly biographically based review of the link between artistic genius and creativity and Bipolar Disorder.

Francis Mondimore, M.D. 1999.
Easy-to-understand primer with a nice, basic explanation of normal vs. abnormal mood states and subsequent overview of mania, depression, hypomania and bipolar subtypes. Goes on to review basic pharmacologic and psychotherapeutic treatments although it is now, somewhat dated on both. A good first read.

Quarterly magazine containing scientific and legislative news and
describing people, both famous and otherwise, with bipolar disorder.
1-866-672-3038 and website: http://www.bphope.com/

by Michael Otto, Noreen Reilly-Harringoton, Robert O. Knauz, Aude Henin, and Jane N. Kogan.  The book  contains information about bipolar disorder and its treatment, and also includes information on managing stress, poor communication, sleep, dysfunctional cognitions, and other psychosocial factors associated with increased risk of relapse. This workbook culminates in a treatment contract that helps patients and their support network identify symptoms and early action strategies for helping manage bipolar disorder; this contract is to be signed in collaboration with the treating clinician.