Bipolar, Not So Much: Understanding Your Mood Swings and Depression

Approaching depression as a complex disorder with many different facets rather than all-or-nothing.

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 readers 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 readers 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. Readers will be able to discern which definition best fits their experience, and use this understanding to learn which treatment methods will work best.  

The authors also empower readers to look beyond antidepressants. They walk readers 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. The book also discusses other innovative technologies that can aid in recovery, including dawn simulators, mood apps, and blue-light filters.      

This thoughtful and beneficial book will offer readers skills and strategies, as well as hope, in the face of debilitating mental challenges.

Chris Aiken, MD, is the director of the Mood Treatment Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, an instructor at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine, and Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Carlat Psychiatry Report and the Mood Disorders Section Editor for Psychiatric Times. He is active in medical research and has published on the treatment and diagnosis of mood disorders.

James Phelps, MD, is the director of the Mood Disorders program at Samaritan Mental Health in Corvallis, Oregon, which serves a five-hospital system. He is recognized as a national expert on the topic of bipolar disorder and has published more than 15 books and journal articles pertaining to mental health. He is the Bipolar section editor for Psychiatric Times.