Owning Bipolar

How Patients and Families Can Take Control of Bipolar Disorder

By: Michael G. Pipich, Joseph Shrand - foreword

Narrated by: Steven Jay Cohen

Knowledge is power, and grasping the basics of bipolar disorder can give you the power you need to detect it, accept it, and own the responsibility for treatment and lifelong disease management. With its three-phase approach, Owning Bipolar can help you and your loved ones become experts at an illness that has called the shots in your life for too long. Now it's time for you to take control.

• The Pre-Stabilization phase and recognition: confronting the causes of bipolar disorder and its effects, including depression, anxiety, loss of energy, avoidance of responsibilities, and suicidal thoughts
• The Stabilization phase and acting on it: starting effective medication, accepting the disease, and treating different types of bipolar disorder
• The Post-Stabilization phase and living with it: undertaking long-term maintenance, accepting your new identity, and coming to terms with your responsibilities, and the responsibilities of your caregivers

Accessible and encouraging, and accented with empathetic firsthand stories from people who share the condition, this book is a vital companion to help listeners understand, treat, and live successfully with bipolar disorder.

©2018 Michael G. Pipich (P)2018 Tantor

Helpful and hopeful.

The subject is organized in such a way that kept me reading (listening) a chapter or two a day. I feel so much better prepared to think about, discuss, and pursue the “owning” of Bipolar I. The book is extremely mindful of all aspects of the support system, especially the impact of living with a person with an as-yet undiagnosed, untreated bipolar condition, or a person who is at some stage of the treatment journey.
After reading it in its entirety, I believe the book will continue to serve as an excellent reference and roadmap for what lies ahead, and it maintains a focused, hopeful throughout. The narrator delivers clearly, and in a voice and style that I found put me at ease and helped me focus on listening and absorbing the material. I found that, at least for myself, I had to bump the narrative speed up to 1.1x or so of normal; that was the only thing, and easily done. Highly recommend and hopeful that it will help others.

It’s a calm explanation and solution discussion!

The organization of this wonderful exploration of the solutions to manic depression for patients, family and peers is direct and inspiring. The calmness of the discussion from all points of view allowed me, a novice, to believe I could handle many of the situations. Knowing the consequences that need to be dealt with after the decision to stop taking medication raised my awareness to the future. It is an inclusive book I highly recommend.

Owning Bi-Polar

This is a great all around book that will prove beneficial to those with BP and family members friends and loved ones

not a fan of this book. its so hard to focus on it

not a fan of this book. its so hard to focus on it. struggled on even making it half way. I'm not going to do the 2md half

Mostly worthless, trite and unoriginal.

Full disclosure: I am a Bipolar I with PTSD. I have read and studied everything I can get my hands on about this mental illness for the last 25 years try to to find ways to manage it.
This book is a waste of your time. And I hate saying that. I wanted this to be good and useful. It's neither.
The author offers great advice like "get a calendar to help manage your time" and "get plenty of rest" or this gem "try to reduce your stress". That's like telling me that trees are green. 100% accurate information, and absolutely worthless.
If you're trying to learn about how to live with bipolar, do yourself a favor and buy a useful book. Something like this: The Bipolar Disorder Survival Guide: What You and Your Family Need to Know https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CBWC9VS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_rsQGDbXMZ1SXV
or something by Kay Redfield Jamison such as "An unquiet mind"and don't waste your precious time on this.