Calming the Bipolar Storm: A Guide for Patients and Their Families

by Robert Fawcett

Overview

Calming the Bipolar Storm:A Guide for Patients and Their Families is for people with bipolar disorder, and anyone who loves or cares for them. This work captures the rapidly advancing research and treatment strategies in the field of bipolar disorders.

Discussing causes, presentation, onset, course, and treatments, the book encourages bipolar persons to set a healthy baseline, outlining five areas that promote good overall health in support of their particular circumstances: diet, exercise, sleep, avoiding substance misuse, and finding social support.

In this context, Robert G. Fawcett discusses specific medications and their side effects, offering comparisons among them where possible. He describes other biological treatments such as herbs and supplements, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), bright light treatment, and sleep deprivation. A discussion of psychotherapies for bipolar includes not only some of the evidence-based treatments such as cognitive-behavioral, interpersonal and social rhythm, and family-focused therapies, but also supportive therapy, which is what patients most commonly encounter.

Drawing from the author’s experience treating patients with bipolar disorder for more than forty years Calming the Bipolar Storm presents an in-depth, engaging overview of bipolar disorder and its treatment, punctuated with case vignettes and interesting glimpses into the history behind today’s concept of bipolar disorder and its treatments. Readers, both sufferers and their families, will come away with a better understanding of bipolar disorder and a clearer path to better treatment.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538145647
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	04/28/2021
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	5.78(w) x 8.98(h) x 0.68(d)

About the Author

Robert G. Fawcett, MD, is president of Little Traverse Psychiatric Associates, P. C. He has lived in Petoskey, Michigan, for more than forty years, practicing psychiatry, and at various times acting as medical director of an inpatient psychiatric unit, teaching medical students as an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry in the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, and serving as president of the Northern Michigan Medical Society.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. What is Bipolar Disorder?

3. What Causes Bipolar Disorder?

4. Setting a Healthy Baseline

5. Treatment of Mania and Mixed States

6. Treatment of Bipolar Depression

7. Maintenance Treatment for Bipolar Disorder

8. Psychotherapy for Bipolar Disorder

9. Pregnancy and Bipolar Disorder

10. Suicide and Bipolar Disorder

11. Secondary Mania and Late Onset Bipolar

12. Disorders Associated with Bipolar

13. Bipolar Youth

Eight Steps Toward Stability

Resources for Further Study

Bibliography

Index

About the Author

Editorial Reviews

This is a good book for those who want to take an active role in understanding their illness and knowing what the different ways are to treat it.

SMS Nonfiction Book Reviews

Fawcett navigates the latitudes of bipolar disorder with ease and clarity, providing informative insights to the nature of the turbulence that individuals and their friends and families experience on a daily basis. Touching on all stages of life and rendering the treatment options available, he anchors us in a practical approach to the illness that is balanced and sound. It is also an excellent primer for trainees, and a must-read for medical health care providers and others who interact with people who have lived experience with bipolar.

Melvin McInnis

This is truly a remarkable book that is both a valuable contribution to the field of psychiatry and a godsend for families of patients with bipolar disorder. I give this book my unconditional and unequivocal recommendation.

Michael I. Casher

A book like this has long been needed. While it is geared toward patients and their families, I cannot imagine any mental health professional not learning from it. In addition to his encyclopedic knowledge of medications, Fawcett examines numerous other treatment modalities and—given their breadth—does so in a surprisingly thorough manner.

Charles H. Lapo II