Bipolar Disorder: A Family-Focused Treatment Approach (Hardcover)

~ David J. Miklowitz (Author), Michael J. Goldstein (Author) "STEWART was admitted to a city hospital for an acute episode of mania..." (more)
Key Phrases: postepisode phases, postepisode period, postepisode recovery period, The Guilford Press, Mary Lou, Family-Focused Treatment Approach (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The book is beautifully written, in a style that can be fully appreciated by any trained mental health professional. It follows a format that I would strongly recommend to any author of a scientific or clinical text and that adds immeasurably to the book's readability....This is a masterful book, essential for any mental health professional who deals with patients suffering from bipolar disorder." --Psychiatric Services

"This volume provides a concise but thorough account of current knowledge about all aspects of bipolar disorder: symptom pictures, etiology, and treatments. Written in a clear style and free of jargon, the book is probably indispensable for professionals, of whatever discipline, who would consider implementing this type of treatment, while its first three chapters provide one of the best available overviews of bipolar disorder for clinicians, students, and even patients and their families." --Behavior Research and Therapy

"Bipolar Disorder includes useful handouts and worksheets. Social workers engaged in work with people with sever mental illness, and their families would find it an extremely valuable and practical book." --The Social Worker
"The authors provide useful models that assist the beginning therapist in the management of many disorders, not limited to bipolar disorder. The authors' insightful techniques will be a pleasure for any reader to absorb, as they present an epitome of practice techniques. I will highly recommend this book to psychiatry residents in our training program with a certainty that they will find their time well-spent reading it. While invaluable to the specialized family therapist who works with bipolar families, this book will also be a fine addition to any clinician's library." --Journal of Clinical Psychiatry

"This book is an excellent addition to the literature on family treatment for bipolar disorder and is highly recommended for clinicians, researchers interested in treatment outcomes, and persons with bipolar disorder and their family members who are coping with the disorder....Overall, this is a remarkable and innovative outpatient family-focused treatment protocol for working with persons with bipolar disorder and their families after an acute episode....Research shows that families are staying in FFT and that it is helping to reduce the number of relapse episodes for persons with bipolar disorder." --The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease
-- Review

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

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

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

"The book is beautifully written, in a style that can be fully appreciated by any trained mental health professional. It follows a format that I would strongly recommend to any author of a scientific or clinical text and that adds immeasurably to the book's readability....This is a masterful book, essential for any mental health professional who deals with patients suffering from bipolar disorder." --Psychiatric Services

"This volume provides a concise but thorough account of current knowledge about all aspects of bipolar disorder: symptom pictures, etiology, and treatments. Written in a clear style and free of jargon, the book is probably indispensable for professionals, of whatever discipline, who would consider implementing this type of treatment, while its first three chapters provide one of the best available overviews of bipolar disorder for clinicians, students, and even patients and their families." --Behavior Research and Therapy

"Bipolar Disorder includes useful handouts and worksheets. Social workers engaged in work with people with sever mental illness, and their families would find it an extremely valuable and practical book." --The Social Worker
"The authors provide useful models that assist the beginning therapist in the management of many disorders, not limited to bipolar disorder. The authors' insightful techniques will be a pleasure for any reader to absorb, as they present an epitome of practice techniques. I will highly recommend this book to psychiatry residents in our training program with a certainty that they will find their time well-spent reading it. While invaluable to the specialized family therapist who works with bipolar families, this book will also be a fine addition to any clinician's library." --Journal of Clinical Psychiatry

"This book is an excellent addition to the literature on family treatment for bipolar disorder and is highly recommended for clinicians, researchers interested in treatment outcomes, and persons with bipolar disorder and their family members who are coping with the disorder....Overall, this is a remarkable and innovative outpatient family-focused treatment protocol for working with persons with bipolar disorder and their families after an acute episode....Research shows that families are staying in FFT and that it is helping to reduce the number of relapse episodes for persons with bipolar disorder." --The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 318 pages
• Publisher: The 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.com Sales Rank: #731,427 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

61 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars EXCELLENT, July 4, 1999

By	"joyfully_serving_god" (West Des Moines, Iowa USA) - See all my reviews

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 (REAL NAME)

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.

12 of 13 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 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".