Books on Bipolar

What are some of your favorite or most helpful books relating to bipolar?

My favorite, hands down, is Haldol and Hyacinths by Melody Moezzi. I have read her story more than once, love it and relate a ton (except for the fame and Iranian culture). Her descriptions of highs and lows is spot on for me.

I'm currently reading Touched with Fire by Kay Redfield Jamison. Have you read it? Did you like it? My husband said he enjoyed most of it, and that it gave him a lot of insight about me and some of our other friends in our social circle (mostly artists and musicians).


There are a couple of workbooks which I like, and they are easy to focus on even when things are difficult. I love Wellness Recovery Action Plan by Mary Ellen Copeland (WRAP). I just started The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for Bipolar Disorder. I'll post here how I liked it. My therapist initially introduced me to them and WRAP actually saved my life a few years ago. With it, you create a binder of information that helps you and whoever you share it with understand what you're like when you're well and when you're not, what to do if things fall apart, what YOU want others to do in an emergency, and how to maintain or recover your overall wellness. I shared it with my husband and with it, he was able to get me help the way I wanted and needed help during a bad mixed episode that I would not have survived without intervention.

I'm looking for more books to read. I've been diagnosed for years but honestly just never wanted to know more about it until pretty recently in my life.

My therapist has me reading Unquiet Minds by Kay redfield. She's a pdoc that has bipolar.

Interesting read so far.

"Madness" by Marya Hornbacher is a very good read. Down to earth and explicit about the struggles.

"Madness" and "Sane" are both fantastic in very different ways.

Also, "Marbles" by Ellen Forney, a graphic novel. Really good.

Liquid_Entropy wrote:My therapist has me reading Unquiet Minds by Kay redfield. She's a pdoc that has bipolar.

Interesting read so far.

I have that book and have read it twice so far. I read it a while ago way before I was diagnosed and most likely during a manic time as I so didn't remember most of it when I read it again recently. I do like the book very much and I see now that yes if I was more stable back then I might have taken more from it and remembered it more than I initially did.

BrainStorm wrote: I just started The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for Bipolar Disorder. I'll post here how I liked it.

Hey there, I've ordered The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for Bipolar Disorder, thanks for the tip

poisonbutterfly wrote:I have that book and have read it twice so far. I read it a while ago way before I was diagnosed and most likely during a manic time as I so didn't remember most of it when I read it again recently. I do like the book very much and I see now that yes if I was more stable back then I might have taken more from it and remembered it more than I initially did.

Same here, actually! I think I liked it, but I don't remember much about it. Same goes for Touched with Fire...

I've read others, but can't remember the titles. The only one I do remember I didn't like, which was "Diary of a Bipolar".

I read that one too, I think the author was George Ison or something like that. I found it interesting anyway. It was decidedly less glamorous than Teri Cheney or Marya Hornbacher's stuff. But a perspective nevertheless.

What I can tell you is that none of you read MY book yet, and that is because I write 1/3 of it with every hypomania. One hypomania left

Oliveira wrote:I read that one too, I think the author was George Ison or something like that. I found it interesting anyway. It was decidedly less glamorous than Teri Cheney or Marya Hornbacher's stuff. But a perspective nevertheless.

What I can tell you is that none of you read MY book yet, and that is because I write 1/3 of it with every hypomania. One hypomania left

I found it interesting too, but honestly... Boring! Which is a pretty accurate description of depression, but it doesn't make for a very good read, at least imo.

I'll be waiting for that one, Oliveira (not that I'm wishing you mania!)! You won't get a chance to read mine, though, I just go through ideas in my head and never actually put anything to paper.

What I can tell you is that none of you read MY book yet, and that is because I write 1/3 of it with every hypomania. One hypomania left

Oliveira,
Not much further, can't wait!