Bipolar, Not So Much

Understanding Your Mood Swings and Depression

By: Chris Aiken MD, James Phelps MD

Narrated by: Charles Constant

Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

Depression confuses the mind, strips away hope, and causes people to blame themselves for an illness they never asked for. This book presents a revolutionary new understanding of the concept of depression and offers skills and strategies to manage it.

No longer is this a one-size-fits-all diagnosis, and antidepressants are no longer the one-size-fits-all treatment. Mood disorders are now seen to form a spectrum of problems, from common depression on one end to full bipolar disorder on the other. In between these extremes are multitudes of people who are on the middle of the mood spectrum, and this book is for them.

The first part of the book helps answer the question, "Where am I on the mood spectrum?" By laying the foundation for understanding this spectrum, Aiken and Phelps highlight the key distinctions that define unipolarity, bipolarity, hypomania, mania, and depression.

The authors also empower listeners to look beyond antidepressants. They walk listeners through new medications for the mood spectrum, and offer a guide to non-medication treatments that anyone can use on their own, from diet and lifestyle changes to natural supplements.

©2017 Chris Aiken, MD, and James Phelps, MD (P)2021 Tantor

ON POINT!!!

Thank goodness for research! After 65 years, so excited for the younger generations. Reminder: Life can be so good.

A lot of helpful information

Some of the treatment and family/friends section seems really obvious and unnecessary. Overall the book included a lot of interesting details about the mood spectrum and was helpful. The website also lists a lot of helpful resources.

Life changing

Depression as a spectrum and the knowledge of heritabiliy could potentially get me out of this cycle of sadness

Please read

This is a wonderful book explaining the ups and downs of bipolar disorder. Treatments both psychological, therapy, and homeopathic options. I must read for people who have bipolar or have people in their life with bipolar.

Amazing

This book is an incredible resource for patients and providers alike Thank you very much for writing it, it will definitely help me take better care of my patients. Very practical and also absolutely on the up-to-date cutting edge of our current understanding of the bipolar spectrum

Thank you

This book is a godsend for my understanding and explains the science of mood disorders as they vary on a spectrum in a conversational and easy to follow way. The specific examples were particularly helpful! Great book for anyone looking to understand themselves, others, or moods in general.

If you are on the mood spectrum PLEASE READ

This book has been one of the most informative and to the point books I’ve read to learn my symptoms and be able to discuss more efficiently with my medical providers

A must read for psychiatric providers and patients with BIpolar

I am a psychiatric nurse practitioner practicing in Arizona. I binged this book in a day and just ordered the print version. I’m a huge fan of the Carlat report and listen to the podcast religiously. I found this book extremely enlightening. In clinical practice I definitely see a huge range of “bipolar disorder.” I enjoyed the section on medications and thought the information on lithium was especially helpful. It made me start wondering if we could prescribe lithium for circadian rhythm disorders since it resets circadian rhythms. I recently put a pediatric patient who has ASD and bipolar on lithium and Latuda when nothing else was working. All his self-harm and constant suicidal ideation are gone and he was able to flip his entire sleep schedule (he was up all night/slept during the day). He is stable for the first time in a year. I wonder if bipolar will ever become “bipolar spectrum disorder,” instead of only one or two. Thank you for writing this book! I will definitely be recommending this book to my patients and my colleagues.

Fantastic book

My psychologist recommended that I read this book and I am so glad that I did. It’s chock full of great expertise, advice & ideas, and it is all done in a non-judgmental way. It provides clarity on bipolar, depression, and the spaces in-between. I found this book so helpful that I ended up buying it so I could reference back to it as needed.