Soft Bipolar: Vivid Thoughts, Mood Shifts and Swings, Depression, and Anxiety of the Mild Mood Disorders Affecting Millions [Paperback]

Charles K. Bunch (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 2005

Soft Bipolar: Vivid Thoughts, Mood Shifts and Swings, Depression, and Anxiety of the Mild Mood Disorders Affecting Millions of Americans. Cutting–edge help and information is now available on the misunderstood and often misdiagnosed milder mood disorders: Bipolar ll and Cyclothymia.

You may have Soft Bipolar if you:

· Have vivid thoughts and emotions
· Have variable periods of energy and productivity
· Have good times followed by periods of foggy depression
· Have a relative with depression, a mood disorder, or alcoholism
· Are strongly affected by stress, relationships, changes of seasons, or losses
· Feel you are bright, but for some reason are not meeting your potential

If you can relate to any of these ideas, Soft Bipolar has further tools to understand your symptoms, including the new and innovative Soft Bipolar Symptom Self Report.

There are things you can do about these disorders, and direction in finding qualified help is included.

Where would we be without other resources? Soft Bipolar includes many internet–critical resource sites that offer vast amounts of help you can find today!

Dr. Bunch wants you to understand why you have suffered and what you can do about the fears, anxieties, and depression of your Soft Bipolar disorder.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Charles K.Bunch, Ph.D. has his Ph.D. in Counseling from the Union Institute and University, and a Master’s degree in Counseling from Idaho State University. He has lectured in the US as well as overseas. Dr. Bunch is the Director of Boise Bipolar Center and practices as a Clinical Counselor. He has developed materials and class structures to provide outpatient treatment to Soft Bipolar sufferers. “I immensely enjoy my work with Soft Bipolar patients. When they are diagnosed and treated correctly they move on to creative and productive lives. They are the spice of life.”

Product Details

• Paperback: 136 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse, Inc. (June 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595348246
• ISBN-13: 978-0595348244
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,063,364 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't bother-there are better books available, September 5, 2006

By 

Rayni Nelson (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Soft Bipolar: Vivid Thoughts, Mood Shifts and Swings, Depression, and Anxiety of the Mild Mood Disorders Affecting Millions (Paperback)

I find this book very hard to read due to all of the typos, left out words, misspellings, and poor grammar. Additionally, much of the book is a series of lists of symptoms or signs without much explanation. The author does provide many web site listings where you can get more (and much better) information though. I would not recommend this book at all as it would be a waste of money.

A really good book on the same topic is "Why am I Still Depressed?" by Jim Phelps, M.D. Dr. Phelps provides much more explanation when he discusses topics. There are no "laundry lists" of symptoms. Additionally, Dr. Phelps provides a very good set of additional references at the end of his book.

So, if you like checklists of symptoms, this book is for you.
If you prefer real information, clear explanations, and good writing, "Why am I still Depressed?" by Jim Phelps is your better choice.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Have to Agree--Unfortunate, May 16, 2007

By 

Waya "Wolf" (Los Alamos, NM USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Soft Bipolar: Vivid Thoughts, Mood Shifts and Swings, Depression, and Anxiety of the Mild Mood Disorders Affecting Millions (Paperback)

For those of us just diagnosed and searching for detailed information about "softer" forms of bipolar, this book is discouraging. If you can get past the typographical errors (I couldn't--geez, mister, at least get a proofreader if not an editor!), there's still not much "hard" information. There are some "case histories," but there are no studies to back up this guy's conclusions (he refers to "my experience" a lot). It's just not good enough.

There are a lot of references to "helpful" web sites, but did we really need to spend extra money to figure out we can use the web?

I found the information that IS there disorganized and unenlightening. I should have known that an author who begins, "I love working with bipolars..." might be a bit of a goof.

Save your money and buy "Why Am I Still Depressed?" It's much better.

22 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars e-book still has typos and grammatical errors, July 20, 2006

By 

Bush Fan (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Soft Bipolar: Vivid Thoughts, Mood Shifts and Swings, Depression, and Anxiety of the Mild Mood Disorders Affecting Millions (Paperback)

Dr. Bunch defended the hard copy of his book by saying that his e-book does not have typos and grammatical errors. WRONG! You'd think he would get it right at some point. I didn't think the errors would be a big deal, but it makes the reader think that perhaps the doctor doesn't really know what he's talking about.

I'm not sure what to make of Dr. Bunch. I'm certain he has helped many people as a therapist, and I think he genuinely cares about the topic of cyclothymia. But, I'm skeptical because as far as I can tell from his credentials, he did not attend medical school. There's nothing wrong with receiving a Ph.D. online, but a physician should be clear about his ability or potential inability to give medical advice, expecially when dealing with mental health. The field of psychiatry and psychology has many professionals who have the experience and the medical education to correctly identify and treat mood disorders.

I'm going to continue muddling my way through the book with some skepticism.