Books

Self-help workbooks

The Bipolar Survival Guide, by David J. Miklowitz (2002). The author developed a form of psychotherapy to help patients and families with bipolar illness. His book provides an up-to-date summary of ways to manage bipolar illness through stress-reduction, self-monitoring and life-style modification.

Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy, by David D. Burns. This guide to cognitive-behavioral therapy helps you to become aware of, and change, the patterns of thinking that lead to depression. His second volume, The Feeling Good Handbook, is an expanded version which offers help for anxiety and other related conditions.

Get Out Of Your Mind And Into Your Life, Steven C. Hayes. This book guides you through a new version of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) called “acceptance and commitment therapy” (ACT). Both ACT and CBT are effective for depression. ACT differs in that it is does not focus on logical ways to change thoughts but rather on acceptance, mindfulness, and action.

Don't Let Your Emotions Run Your Life: How Dialectical Behavior Therapy Can Put You in Control, by Scott E. Spradlin. Like the book above, this is a guide to an updated version of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). This therapy, called dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) is specifically tailored to people who have trouble with mood swings.

Getting Over OCD, by Jonathan S. Abramowitz (2009). A step-by-step guide by a cognitive-behavioral therapist from UNC-Chapel Hill.

Facing Panic, by Reid Wilson. Dr. Wilson is based in Chapel Hill, NC but known internationally for his work in cognitive behavior therapy for anxiety. Much of his work is available free at www.anxieties.com. He also has a longer version of Facing Panic, called Don’t Panic.

Self-Nurture, by Alice D. Domar and Henry Dreher. A good book for people who are good at caring for others and would like to learn how to better care for themselves.

Educational Books on Bipolar

Surviving Bipolar Illness by E. Fuller Torrey (2005). Written by a physician who has made important discoveries in bipolar illness, this guide is particularly strong on the causes of and medication treatments for bipolar.

Bipolar Disorder: A Guide for Patients and Families, by Francis Mondimore (2006). A thorough and compassionately written account of the treatments and causes of bipolar. It gives equal focus to medications and lifestyle management.

An Unquiet Mind, by K. Jamison. The author is a prominent scientist in the field of bipolar who also suffers from the condition. Her experience, which reflects classic bipolar-I illness, is described eloquently here. However, the kind of bipolar she has is rare and many may not relate to it.

TOUCHED WITH FIRE: Manic Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament, by K. Jamison. A biographical exploration of the lives of writers and artists who were presumed to have bipolar illness.

—Updated 5/7/10 by Chris Aiken, MD