Overcoming Bipolar Disorder: A Comprehensive Workbook for Managing Your Symptoms and Achieving Your Life Goals

The LGP was designed to help the bipolar patient take charge of their disorder, rather than waiting passively for a health practitioner to stumble on the right treatment and tell the patient how to deal with the disorder. It includes a strong educational component, encouraging the person living with bipolar disorder to both learn about the disorder as well as explore their experiences with bipolar, including beliefs, first onset, triggers, cycles, feelings of stigma, effects of the disorder on social and spiritual aspects of life, and effective coping methods. Rather than creating a dichotomy where the person living with bipolar disorder is the passive patient and the health care provider (the author) is the expert, the LGP encourages the person living with bipolar disorder to become an expert on his or her disorder, and to take action in discovering what works and doesn't work in controlling the symptoms and coping with the effects of bipolar.

This workbook is arranged in modules, each one beginning with an educational component that explains the topic at hand and its relation to bipolar (for example, what happens physiologically when the person living with bipolar disorder becomes depressed, or how and why bipolar people often turn to street drugs and alcohol to cope). It then provides a step-by-step, accessible, thorough group of tools and/or exercises to help the reader explore the topic using their own experience.

Evette J. Ludman, Ph.D., received her bachelor's degree from Brown University and her doctorate from the University of Oregon. She is a clinical psychologist and researcher at Group Health Cooperative. Her research concentrates on motivating people to make positive life changes in a range of areas from smoking to exercise to depression.

Linda McBride, MSN, received her master's degree in nursing from the University of Rhode Island. She has lectured internationally and is a recognized educator, researcher, and clinician with expertise in bipolar disorder, patient education, and collaborative treatment for people seeking mental health care. She is affiliated with the Graduate Program in the College of Nursing at the University of Rhode Island. She was awarded the Administrator's Excellence in Nursing by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Devra E. Greenwald, MPH, received her bachelor's degree from Vassar College and her master's degree in public health from Yale University. She conducts research in mental health at the Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion at the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System.

Evette J. Ludman, Ph.D., received her bachelor's degree from Brown University and her doctorate from the University of Oregon. She is a clinical psychologist and researcher at Group Health Cooperative, where she motivates people to make positive life changes, from quitting smoking to overcoming depression.

Devra E. Greenwald, MPH, received her bachelor's degree from Vassar College and her master's degree in public health from Yale University. She conducts research in mental health at the Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion at the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System.

Amy M. Kilbourne, Ph.D., MPH, graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with a double major in molecular biology and rhetoric. She has both a master's degree in public health with a concentration in epidemiology and a doctoral degree in health services from the University of California, Los Angeles. Kilbourne's research is focused on improving outcomes in individuals with mood disorders through integrated general medical and mental health care strategies, and translating effective treatment models for mood disorders into community-based settings.