Even if psychiatry in general practice isn't your cup of tea, you and your patients can implement this program and achieve better rates of follow-up, adherence to medication programs and fewer bipolar crises.

6 step program

Bipolar and the Art of Roller-coaster Riding devotes several chapters to psychoeducation for bipolar patients—and details a 6-step guide for managing bipolar disorder.

The program is designed to be used by the patient in conjunction with carers and clinicians.

Click to see some

pithy advice

for bipolar patients

Program overview

The six-step program relies on a positive pragmatism based on cognitive-behavioural techniques. The six steps are:

Telling the difference between illness and a bad day
This acknowledges that sufferers experience the ordinary ups and downs of daily life and to an extent can alleviate the anxiety of carers.
Listing triggers
By identifying triggers of illness plans can be made (Step 5) to avoid these.
Using Mood, Activity and Thinking to identify signposts.
This follows Kraepelin's model to identify concrete, specific and reliable indicators of failing health. The client is guided to differentiate between "Early Warnings" and "Major Alerts."
Creating Brakes and Safety Nets
"Brakes" are devised to match "Early Warnings" while "Safety Nets" are put in place to deal with "Major Alerts."
Devising strategies for staying well
This condenses the work done by the client, his/her carer and you to create a long term guide that can be modified as time goes on.
Letting time do its work.
It's important to acknowledge that it takes time to do this work, yet it is the best investment your client can make in himself or herself.

Resource book

'Bipolar and the Art of Roller-coaster Riding' by Madeleine Kelly is a straightforward, detailed work that includes medical information plus advice on managing the condition. It puts your patient first and encourages them to take control over their life and their illness.

Read about the author.

Reviews

General medical practitioner Dr Brendan O'Shea reviewed the first edition. He wrote: "This is a wonderful book. It is to be strongly recommended to doctor and patient alike, particularly where manic depressive illness is a common area of interest to them both. It is particularly insightful." Read other reviews.

Pithy advice for patients

"Accept, if you like, that you have a medical condition. Better still, accept that you have had problems as a consequence of certain painful experiences that may recur (you don’t have to frame it as a life sentence called ‘mental illness’ or ‘bipolar disorder’), and therefore you had better do something about them. But never accept that this must therefore mean a lifetime of submissiveness and loss. There are things you can do to have a fulfilled life. You’re not responsible for giving yourself this condition, but you, and only you, can take responsible action to make the most of your life as you find it." (from Preface to First Edition)

"...what I do know is how much better life can be if you never accept that you’ll be sick, miserable, out of control, incompetent and dependent forever...Breaking out from despair is difficult...But it’s your life, and there are things you can do to make the most of it." (from Introduction)

6 week interactive Living Well course

Learn to manage bipolar and return to life in the mainstream. Work with a buddy and get your doctor involved. Minimise disasters and live the life you intend to with your Living Well plan.

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