Bipolar Disorder: A Family-Focused Treatment Approach [Hardcover]

David J. Miklowitz (Author), Michael J. Goldstein (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1572302836 | ISBN-13: 978-1572302839 | Publication Date: September 12, 1997 | Edition: 1st

The introduction of lithium in the early 1970s brought enormous relief to the suffering of bipolar patients and their families. Decades later, however, the illness continues to take a painful and pervasive toll: even patients receiving optimal medication are likely to endure multiple recurrences and to have trouble holding jobs and maintaining relationships. This cogent and practical manual by David J. Miklowitz and Michael J. Goldstein presents a complete 9-month outpatient program designed to help patients and families understand, accept, and manage the effects of bipolar disorder. The book builds upon both the late Dr. Goldstein's pioneering work with the families of schizophrenia patients and Dr. Miklowitz's extension of this work to bipolar disorder. Aimed to improve family functioning, facilitate patient willingness to follow a medication regimen, and reduce the risk and severity of relapse, this unique psychoeducational treatment approach maximizes limited time and resources and can be readily incorporated in a range of clinical settings. The book first reviews the research basis for family-focused psychoeducational treatment (FFT) and illuminates the interactive effects of family stress, life stress, and biological predisposition on recurrences of bipolar disorder. Chapters then present a clear and comprehensive framework for conducting FFT, from assessment, education, and communication and problem-solving training sessions, to crisis management and termination. Aided by numerous clinical case examples and session vignettes, clinicians learn to educate patients and family members about bipolar disorder and to address their core concerns in coming to terms with it. Specifically, the program helps families: Accept the existence of a major psychiatric disorder in a loved one. Accept the notion of vulnerability to future episodes. Work through emotional resistances to pharmacotherapy. Distinguish between the patient's personality and his or her disorder. Recognize and cope with stressors that may trigger the onset of episodes. Enhance family relationships with new communication and problem solving skills. Based on extensive research and clinical experience, this authoritative guide is an invaluable tool for therapists from any background - including psychologists, psychiatrists, marriage and family therapists, social workers, counselors, and nurses - and contains much information of relevance to patients and family members as well. FFT also has important implications for other serious psychiatric and medical conditions, making the book a useful resource for researchers. It serves as a supplementary text for advanced undergraduate and graduate-level courses.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is an indispensable treatment guide for all clinicians dealing with bipolar patients. Infused with clinical wisdom, transmitted in illustrative clinical vignettes, it is a clearly written guide to a family-based program. In a managed care environment, this is a focused, flexible, and efficient treatment." --John F. Clarkin, PhD, Professor of Clinical Psychology in Psychiatry, Cornell University Medical College; Director of Psychology, The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center

"Greatly influenced by the late Michael Goldstein's innovative work on family intervention in schizophrenia, this book is the fruit of Miklowitz and Goldstein's collaboration in the application of similar approaches to the equally great challenge of ameliorating the course of manic-depressive illness through family intervention. In this book, David Miklowitz and, regrettably posthumously, Michael Goldstein bring the wisdom of their psychoeducational approach and the techniques for applying it to practicing clinicians. Whether such clinicians typically treat individuals, couples, or entire families, they will benefit enormously from the perspective offered here and find much to incorporate into their work with patients suffering from bipolar disorder." --Ellen Frank, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

"This book [presents] the first treatment approach for bipolar disorder that truly integrates the use of medication and family intervention....Miklowitz and Goldstein succeed brilliantly in not being bound to a Procrustean bed of limited therapeutic rules. Instead, their treatment guidelines continuously emphasize a 'psychotherapeutic attitude' in which the experience, stories, and special life circumstances of the family members are given attention....This volume should quickly become required reading in every family and marital therapy training program. In addition, it should be read as well by all professionals, especially psychiatrists, who need to learn more about how the effectiveness of the medications they prescribe can be substantially enhanced with family-focused treatment." --From the Foreword by Lyman C. Wynne

About the Author

David J. Miklowitz, PhD, is Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where he has taught in the graduate Clinical Psychology program since 1989. Focusing on family environmental factors and family interventions in the major mental disorders, with particular emphasis on bipolar affective disorder, Dr. Miklowitz's work has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and the MacArthur Foundation, and recognized by awards from the International Congress on Schizophrenia Research and the National Association for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression. He is the author of 60 journal articles and book chapters.

Michael J. Goldstein, PhD (1930-1997), was a pioneer in research on family factors relevant to the onset and course of major psychiatric disorders, particularly schizophrenia. After receiving his doctorate from the University of Washington in 1957, he served as Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles, for 40 years. The author of nearly 200 journal articles, books, and book chapters, Dr. Goldstein's honors included the Alexander Gralnick Award from the American Psychological Association, the Gerald Klerman Research Award from the Association for Clinical Psychosocial Research, and the Distinguished Contribution to Family Therapy Award from the American Family Therapy Association.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 318 pages
• Publisher: Guilford Press; 1st edition (September 12, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572302836
• ISBN-13: 978-1572302839
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,089,922 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

David J. Miklowitz, PhD, Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Colorado, is a leading international scholar and author in the study of bipolar disorder. He is currently investigating the effectiveness of his Family-Focused Therapy for adolescent bipolar disorder.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars EXCELLENT, July 4, 1999

By 

R. Ziegler "joyfully_serving_God" (Rawlins, WY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bipolar Disorder: A Family-Focused Treatment Approach (Hardcover)

This is an excellent informational book for those who have bipolar disorder and their families. The book is designed to be used by mental health care professionals, and I most certainly encourage them to purchase this book for a family treatment plan that will benefit their clients and the client's family. The approach of the therapy takes the entire family into consideration. It is not just the individual with bipolar that goes through the trauma, but the entire family. The therapy educates the patient and the family as to the disorder and its' attributes, gives the family ways of coping with the disorder and hospitalization, works on medicinal compliance, and prepares the client and the family for any future episodes. Most importantly, it improves the communication of the family which leads to a healthier environment for the client as well as the family. This book is a definite must have for mental health care providers as well as clients and their families. Excellent Job Dr. Miklowitz. By the way, I have bipolar disorder and am a graduate student studying Agency Counseling Education. I have every intention of using the methods in this book for my clients and myself. Well Worth The Money!!!

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent reference, effective approach, February 17, 2001

By 

Robert Mattes "Linux Rules!" (N. Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bipolar Disorder: A Family-Focused Treatment Approach (Hardcover)

Overall excellent reference for the background, progress, and prospects for bipolar disorder and its sufferers. As the book points out, along with appropriate medications, family support is critical to a favorable disease course. Education of the patient and family is the cornerstone of episodic recovery and the prevention of relapses (as much as is possible), and this book provides excellent, useful summary information as well as proven approaches for resolving difficult issues. Many of the tools described in the book such as active listening and basic problem solving skills have wide application beyond the FFT approach. Their application to bipolar patients and their families, though, requires great delicacy at times, and the authors provide helpful insights through actual clinical examples. Each bipolar case and family is different, and there are no universal cookie-cutter answers, but combined with recent pharmacological advances, this proposed approach provides the best hope for a favorable course.

As the primary supporter of a bipolar family member, I've learned many of these lessons the hard way over the years. Even with that long experience, I found new insights here. My experience strongly supports the authors' premise that the patient and his/her family are THE critical elements in a favorable episodic recovery and long-term maintenance. Though written for the clinician, Bipolar Disorder: A Family-Focused Treatment Approach is easily understandable and usable by family members and patients. I highly recommend it for both.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A prequel to the Bipolar Disorder Survival Guide?, March 16, 2003

By 

Avery Z. Conner (West Lafayette, IN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bipolar Disorder: A Family-Focused Treatment Approach (Hardcover)

This book preceded Miklowitz's very popular "Bipolar Disorder Survival Guide". The question then arises: should you buy this book as well? I think the answer is yes. This book puts forth the family-focused treatment approach, and in doing so supplements the information in the "Bipolar Disorder Survival Guide", which is more so directly about patients suffering from the disorder. Furthermore, this book is very well written and organized, and focuses upon a perhaps underappreciated means for treating the illness. Avery Z. Conner, author of "Fevers of the Mind".