Feb 25


Take Charge Of Bipolar Disorder – a review

by Terry 25 February 2007


This is very tough for me to write. Yesterday I got my copy of Take Charge of Bipolar Disorder; A 4-Step Plan for You and Your Loved Ones to Manage the Illness and Create Lasting Stability by Julie A Fast and John Preston. I spent most of the day reading it, alternating between nodding my head in agreement and wiping away tears.

It’s a workbook geared not only to those who have bipolar disorder but also to friends and families of those who do. It covers the basics pretty well, in a far less academic manner than An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jameson, which I read immediately after being diagnosed. To be honest, An Unquiet Mind scared me and made me fear that I would eventually slip into psychosis and never come out. At the time, I didn’t understand that there was more than one kind of bipolar disorder and that my experience didn’t have to mimic Ms. Jameson’s own. I gained some intellectual understanding of the problem, but found little with which I could identify and little to comfort me.

Take Charge is different. It includes information on Bipolar II, which is what I have, and spells out symptoms in a matter of fact manner. It covers the range from depression to hypomania (a milder, shorter-lived form of mania, without the euphoria), mania, paranoia and anxiety. It explains how prolonged use of antidepressants can cause cycle acceleration, which causes mood swings to become faster and more severe, and why, after 8 years on them, I was in worse shape than before I started. The book talks about why I respond to stress, even good stress, with panic attacks sometimes, and gives tips on how to manage them. It has suggestions for identifying a swing before it starts and how to short circuit it. I learned that 90% of people with bipolar struggle with anxiety and that it needs to be medically managed. I thought it was just me so I never told my doctor. Most importantly, though, the book told me that the longer a person goes undiagnosed and untreated–in my case, 30 years–the longer it takes to respond to medications. In those terms, three years to get stable doesn’t mean I’m a failure. It’s about average.

That’s the encouraging part.

On the other hand, I’m not sure I’d want anyone close to me to read it. I’m too fearful of the reactions to it. It uses words that have scary connotations, like psychosis, suicidal ideation, hallucinations, intrusive thoughts, obsessions and compulsions. They don’t all happen to everyone, but it presents a dismal picture of what bipolar is like. It also details some of the things that happen in my head–the things I try so hard to never let show–and I don’t think I’m ready for others to know them. It makes a big point that people with bipolar aren’t crazy, yet many of the things it talks about do indeed sound crazy to those on the outside. Hell, they sound crazy to me, and I’ve felt them.

It gives practical suggestions for family and friends on how to best respond to different phases, like saying, “I know this is just the depression talking,” but it downplays the fact that when they’re happening, the emotions are very real. When I’m down in the well, sometimes I just need comfort, the reassurance that someone cares. It also overlooks the fact that people with bipolar have normal moods, too, even when we’re medicated. Sometimes we are exuberant, sad, angry, happy, or pensive, just like anyone else. Everything we feel and say isn’t “the bipolar talking.”

It also plays up the role of other people in keeping us stable, too much so, in my opinion. While understanding is critical, in the end it’s my responsibility to maintain control, not someone else’s. I refuse to be a burden in need of constant care; I’m afraid this book would convince a reader that a person with bipolar isn’t worth the trouble.

So rather than recommend the book to friends, I’ll probably copy out small sections and share it that way. I have one friend who, every time we get together, tells me how she liked me so much better when I was manic because I was so much fun then. It hurts me every time and I never know what to say. Maybe a page from the book can say it for me.

So I guess this is a mixed review. It is helpful in many ways, depressing in others. If you have bipolar, read it when you’re stable. If you’re feeling shaky, it might upset you with negative possibilities. If you care about someone with the disease, ask him or her before picking it up and be prepared to discuss it along the way. Not everyone needs or wants the same things. We’re individuals, though we may have some symptoms in common. Most of all, see past the disease to the person who has it. There’s more to us than that.

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7 Comments

7 Responses to “Take Charge Of Bipolar Disorder – a review”

  1. molly on February 26th, 2007 4:23 am

    i love your honesty and appreciate the way you want to own your own feelings, not blaming everything on the bipolar disorder….its very refreshing.  (Quote)

  2. Terry on February 26th, 2007 10:47 am

    Thanks, Molly. I always try to be honest, both here and with myself. Since for most readers, I’m the only person with bipolar that they “know,” I feel a big responsibility to be fair and balanced in what I write, in both my struggles and in my triumphs. Bipolar has a million faces — mine is one.  (Quote)

  3. Ahistoricality on February 26th, 2007 6:43 pm

    An excellent review, by the way. You do the “reservations” well: you are very clear about what it is you have reservations about, and give the reader enough information to come to their own conclusion if their experience differs from your own.  (Quote)

  4. Terry on February 27th, 2007 8:32 am

    Thanks, A. In a previous life, I was a fiction reviewer for about 4 years. I hope people will find this helpful.  (Quote)

  5. Andrea on December 14th, 2007 3:50 pm

    Hi. I’ve never read your blog before but somehow just stumbled on it while searching the web. It probably came up because I’ve been experiencing several things myself that, when I reflect on them, aren’t natural (to me) and, frankly, scare me. When reading your blog I felt a connection to you because several of the things you mentioned, like panic attacks, I feel as if I am experiencing.

    I don’t know anyone who’s gone through something like this and I’ve reacted by withdrawing almost completely from my friends and family. I want to be “normal” when I’m around them, and I simply don’t feel as if I’ll be able to explain what is happening coherently because I myself don’t really understand it. I know that I don’t know you at all – I just feel like I need to tell someone about this and I feel like you might understand.

    I’m in university and I live in a house with three people who I’ve been avoiding. I’ll be in my room – I’ve been in my room for too long now – and I have a strong desire to stay in my room. I’ll make excuses for myself and when I try to seriously push myself to going out I start to panic. My heart races and I cry uncontrollably. Then I get a grip of myself and convince myself that there is something that I MUST do in my room – thus excusing myself from the obligation (read: terror) of leaving. Usually the things I end up doing have no point. I created a space in my room where I go when I feel particularily stressed out – when I can’t think and I feel trapped – and I sit between these two lines of lights and I knit. I’m not very good at knitting and so all of my attention is placed on this silly repetitive action. I think it’s okay, because it’s a gift for my boyfriend and so I’m doing something useful. But there are plenty of other things that I really, really should be doing – various essays that I have to do and prints (I’m in fine arts) that have to be completed. Or even leaving the room and interacting with people or eating would be sensible and easy. But it all seems to freak me out too much. Once I’m out of my room – then it’s all fine. I can pretend to my friends that I’m fine, they haven’t seen me for a few days because I was sick. The flu. Or a fever. Or something else. But the truth is sometimes simply leaving my room makes me panic. And each time I get trapped by this feeling it lasts a little longer, and now I’m at the point where it has been almost two weeks and I’m afraid. I don’t know how to shake this.

    Again. I know that I don’t know you, and you issues of your own to deal with. I just felt like I need someone to reach out to and sense that you’ll understand.  (Quote)

  6. Terry on December 14th, 2007 5:05 pm

    You’re welcome here, Andrea, and I’m glad you felt comfortable enough to talk. Panic attacks are absolutely horrible and I’m so sorry you’re suffering from them. But they’re not something most people can just “get over” on their own. You need someone to help you. Does your college have a mental health hotline that you could call from inside the safety zone of your room? If not, try anything in your city or country. You need to talk to someone and preferably get to a doctor.

    While dealing with the anxiety causing the panic attacks is important, my doctor has given me drugs that will shut them down cold and allow me to think clearly so that I can deal with the core issues.

    You don’t have to suffer, Andrea – there’s help out there for you. The first step is making a phone call.

    It’s hard, but you can do it. Things can get better.  (Quote)

  7. Katy Byrne on December 22nd, 2009 10:47 pm

    I would like to receive a review copy of the book,
    “Take Charge of Bipolar Disorder” or any of the books that you feel capture the quality of the problem and the solutions.
    I produce and host Public Radio , at KSVY Public
    Radio, 91. 3 FM – and would like to
    know if your author would consider an interview for
    our public, after I have read one of the books.
    It is best to send a copy to :
    Katy Byrne, MA, MFT
    18490 Riverside dr
    Sonoma, Ca 95476  (Quote)

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