Customer Reviews

The Bipolar Workbook: Tools for Controlling Your Mood Swings

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I had been looking for a guide/workbook for this. Most books don't cover exercises in depth to help and the few guides I have found, frankly were written so poorly they were of no use.

Then I discovered the Bipolar workbook! All I can say is WOW! Lots of exercises for dealing with bipolar, depression. Dealing with the highs and the lows- or worse. Dealing with your diagnosis. Accepting it. (And I have never seen acceptance in any bipolar book)

Start 2006 off right and get this new book if you are bipolar or have a friend who is.

I recommend this to all my clients with Bipolar Disorder that I see in my private practice. This well-written workbook allows clients to easily grasp how to recognize triggers and better manage symptoms. Medication management is only half the battle, and this workbook teaches clients to appropriately manage the other half.

I enjoyed this book. I really wasnt aware of all my symptoms before a manic episode or before hitting a really low place. I got a chance to monitor and track where I was each day and thought the book provided an excellent source of education for people who are newly diagnosed with bipolar disorder. If you are more advanced in your studies with bipolar though and understand how it works, what happens, some parts may bore you. But the workbook part was excellent.

As someone who suffers from bipolar II with a lot of depression, rapid cycling, and mixed states, I found that this workbook barely addressed my problems and was so simplistic, basic, and frankly patronizing that the exercises weren't helpful at all. Someone who has been trying meds for 4 years without finding a combination that works yet does not need to be convinced to take them: we are desperate for something that will help and are willing to stick to anything that might. I'd like to think, based on my own experience, that the population of people with bipolar have more common sense than to routinely stop taking meds because they "feel better." Many of us know that this is the equivalent of a diabetic stopping insulin.

I purchased this book hoping to find more coping strategies and ways to spot and manage symptoms before they get too severe, to round out my treatment to not just be dependent on meds (especially given above, that mine aren't really doing the job). However, what I mostly found were anecdotes between parents and teens, or overly simplistic little conversations between hypothetical people with no self awareness and their therapists.

If you have any awareness at all of yourself and your symptoms, this really won't present opportunities for learning anything you don't know. If you largely suffer from severe depression, the exercises are overall not that applicable. And the worst thing about this book is its tone: I can't think of any other way than to describe it as patronizing at best.

If you have any self-respect and self-awareness, this is a waste of money and time. On top of it, I wish that the author (and many other authors out there of books about dealing with bipolar) would not assume that "newly diagnosed" is mutually exclusive with "I have known my symptoms and have been trying to deal with them my entire life." Bipolar often begins early in life, and many of us clearly understand the ways that our minds work against us even if we may not have had a word for it until recently.

Still looking for a good, useful book for those dealing with bipolar who want to make effective changes in our lifestyles and learn more about heading off severe symptoms. I hope that one is published someday.

This is a great book. It would work for anyone with bipolar, no matter what stage of your treatment your in. It really gave me a different perspective to my illness. I found out about my illness 4 years ago and this book still helped me to learn a lot of things that I had never thought of before. I was really great.

This book is so awesome for someone who has been newly diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. It breaks down the disorder into manageable chunks that make it easier to deal with. It saved me! I am so much more in control now that I have the tools to be so.

"The Bipolar Workbook" is a simply written, informative tutorial on identifying the symptoms, triggers, actions, and consequences of bipolar thinking and behavior. It's got lots of worksheets so the reader can plug in her/his own life events to map out past problems, identify personal trends, and plan for future success. It is a good aid to therapy or self-help workbook. I'd like to see it as an interactive CD, especially to help bipolar adolescents with coexisting attentional deficits.

As a clinical social worker I have given this book to several clients as well as my own adult son. It has been useful for them as well as their families in understanding Bipolar Disorder as a diagnosis and goes on to be very helpful in planning life strategies for success. The book does convey that medication is a necessity for success which can turn some people off but it provides plenty of concrete coping skills for other ways to manage moods. Family members find it helpful to understand and provide more appropriate support to their loved one. It is easily readable and the guide at the beginning gives you an idea of what to read to meet you where you are currently in your understanding and beliefs about Bipolar. It directs you clearly about use of the workbook format and tools. Definitely recommend this.

If you have BD and find workbooks helpful, this is a really good one to have. It's got Cognitive Behavorial Therapy techniques, which comes in handy for challenging negative thoughts. It's also useful for thinking about your own warning signs for mania or depression. I recommend browsing through the pages to see some of the exercises in it. They're easy to do, you just need to take some time to do them.

I wasn't sure what to expect when i ordered this book. A bipolar friend of mine suggested the book (not the workbook) written by Monica Ramirez Basco. I haven't read it yet but plan to. I think the workbook is great. It is a great way to learn to retrain the way you think. There are parts of the workbook that apply to me right now, parts that I've already been through and will probably not read, and parts about things I haven't dealt with yet too. It's one of those things that will help you out now and you can pick it back up months/years later and it will help you again.