Take Charge of Bipolar Disorder: A 4-Step Plan for You and Your Loved Ones to Manage the Illness and Create Lasting Stability

by Julie A. Fast and John D. Preston

Book Overview

Revised and updated, this important book offers a groundbreaking, comprehensive program to help those with bipolar disorder--and those who care about them--gain permanent control over their lives.

Most people diagnosed with bipolar disorder are sent home with the name of a doctor and a bag of medications. However, only 20% of those with the illness are able to gain long term control over their lives with medication alone. Now, bipolar...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0446697613
• ISBN13: 9780446697613
• Release Date: September 2006
• Publisher: Balance
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.42 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 7.5" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Great book!

This is a great book for those who suffer from bipolar illness and their friends and family. Actually, it is a workbook that encourages the bipolar person to write down, for instance, what their bipolar triggers are and then to share these triggers with family and friends so that they can recognize and call them to the bipolar person's attention in a helpful way. Julie coaches friends and family members on how to communicate appropriaately rather than reacting to the bipolar person. I would strongly encourage people suffering from bipolar illness and their friends and family members to purchase a copy of this book by Julie Fast.

Take charge of your life

I am a big fan of Julie Fast. This book was so helpful and inspiring. I have read many books on Bipolar Disorder and Julie Fast has always been the one I credit for really helping me get control back of my life. As a person living with bipolar disorder I would recomend this book 100%, It is not just for people living with Bipolar Disorder though it has also helped many family members. I would strongly recomend Julie Fasts other book for family members Loving Someone With Bipolar Disorder. I would also recomend Julie Fasts health cards and her books Bipolar Happens, and Tips for Talking with Health Care Professionals from her website [..] I love that all of her writtings come from her personal experience with Bipolar Disorder and from her loving someone with the disorder. Thank you Julie Fast for another extremely helpful coping tool.

Very Easy to Read and Understand

This is a a wonderful, easy to understand book. I definately recommend it to anyone with Bipolar Disorder, and to anyone with a Bipolar person in their lives. This book discusses the needs of the person with bipolar disorder as well as the needs of family members, friends, and health care professionals. My brother has just been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder and while I knew basically what that meant, I needed to know more to understand what was happening to him. It is written for the person with Bipolar, with notes for family and friends on how to help him/her. I have just sent the book to my brother knowing that when he reads it, it will help him tremendously. It will help him understand what is happening and will teach him what to do when the mood changes begin. Like the book says on the cover - it will help him (and us) manage his illness so he can live a more stable life. It will help him understand why his brain is behaving the way it is and is written so positively that he should not feel scared or overwhelmed when he reads it. AND it teaches us how to respond to his mood changes which is very important.

Cut through the Theory and Go to the Heart of What Works

Julie Fast's unique perspective on bi-polar disorder comes from personal experience. In dealing with her own bi-polar disorder, she has personally had to do the challenging work to carve her own path through so she could live a productive life. Reading this book is a short-cut. It cuts through all the theory and goes to the heart of what actually works. If you need real assistance in dealing with the disorder yourself or if you need to know how to deal with a loved one who has bi-polar disorder, this book sends you life line. It lays out a step by step, practical approach that you can use as a handbook to guide you as you carve your own path through your individual challenge with bi-polar disorder.