Recommended Reading

Our titles include a range of books that cover information on bipolar disorder and mental health issues in general.

All of these titles can be purchased through Amazon, and we have provided direct links to Amazon for each publication.  These links will open in a new window.

Coping with Depression and Elation (Overcoming Common Problems)
Dr Patrick McKeon
Published by Sheldon Press ISBN 978-0-85969-747-7
(Depressive mood swings can affect people of both sexes and every age. This book describes the causes, symptoms and treatment of depressive moods).

Managing Manic Depressive Disorders
Edited by Ved Varma
Published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers ISBN 978-1853023477
(This study examines what can be done to help those who have manic depressive disorders. It explores the subject from a wide range of viewpoints and contributors include psychiatrists, psychologists, psychotherapists and social workers).

The Depression Workbook: A Guide for Living with Depression and Manic Depression (New Harbinger Workbooks)
Mary Ellen Copeland and Matthew McKay
Published by New Harbinger Publications ISBN 978-1572242685
(Based on extensive research, this text contains interactive exercises that provide guidance on essential coping skills and help readers make real changes in their lives).

Living without Depression and Manic Depression: A Workbook for Maintaining Mood Stability (New Harbinger Workbooks)
Mary Ellen Copeland
Published by New Harbinger Publications ISBN 978-1879237742
(Living Without Depression and Manic Depression outlines a programme that helps people achieve real breakthroughs in coping and healing).

Lithium Treatment of Mood Disorders: A Practical Guide
Prof Mogens Schou
Published by S Kargo ISBN 978-3805577649
(This book had to be written …the language is simple layman’s English, easy to understand and assimilate. This book is likely to become required reading for all who have to do with lithium – patients and carers alike).

An Unquiet Mind
Kay Redfield Jamison
Published by Picador ISBN 978-0330346511
(This work is a personal testimony from Kay Redfield Jamison: the revelation of her struggle with manic depression since adolescence, and how it has shaped her life).

Don’t Wait for Me: How a Mother Lost her Son to Bipolar Disorder and Drug Abuse
Ros Morris
Published by Mainstream Publishing ISBN 978-184596-342-2
(For those coping with a difficult situation within their family “Don’t Wait for Me” should be compulsory reading and it should also be read by all those others who are quick to complain about perceived problems that are in reality often superficial).

A Brilliant Madness
Patty Duke & Gloria Hochman
Published by Bantam ISBN 978-0553560725
(The actress and a medical reporter describe what it is like to live with manic depression, the latest findings on its probable causes, its wide range of symptoms, and its most effective treatments).

Touched with Fire: Manic-depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament
Kay Redfield Jamison
Published by Simon Schuster ISBN 978-06084831831
(Study of manic depression and inspiration that for many will be a hard read but that makes its points convincingly – if only fragmentarily – chapter by chapter. The relation between madness and genius is a fascinating subject, and Jamison has a rich load of firsthand observers to quote from: Byron, Coleridge, van Gogh, Robert Lowell, John Berryman, Sylvia Plath, Theodore Roethke, Virginia Woolf).

Bipolar Disorder: A Guide for Patients and Families (Johns Hopkins Health Book)
Francis Mark Mondimore
Published by Johns Hopkins University Press ISBN 978-0801883132
(A valuable educational resource for individuals with bipolar disorder and the people who care about them. Highly recommended for patients and their family members).

Bipolar Disorder – The Ultimate Guide
Sarah Owen & Amanda Saunders
Published by Oneworld Publications ISBN 978-1851686049
(This book answers questions about bipolar disorder in a friendly and uncomplicated style).

Manic: A Woman in Pain. A Life in Chaos. The Courage to Fight a Secret Madness.
Terri Cheney
Published by Harper Element ISBN 978-0007267071
(This book is for anyone who has experience of, or simply wants to know more about, bipolar disorder, or any mental illness in general. Just be warned that this is not a pretty account).

Bipolar Disorder: Your Questions Answered
Dr Neil Hunt
Published by Churchill Livingstone ISBN 978-0443100703
(This book provides succinct information on bipolar disorder and its management in a primary care setting. However, also helpful for anyone who has experienced bipolar disorder).

Living with Bipolar: A Practical Guide for Those with the Disorder, Their Family and Friends
Lesley Beck, Michael Beck, David Castle & Sue Lauder
Published by Vermilion ISBN 978-0091924251
(This accessible guide explains the characteristics of Bipolar I and Bipolar II; their causes, triggers and ways of preventing relapse).

The A-Z Guide to Good Mental Health: You Don’t Have to be Famous to Have Manic Depression
Jeremy Thomas & Dr Tony Hughes
Published by Penguin ISBN 978-0141032177
(This entertaining and informative book debunks the jargon of a complex subject).

The Lily Pond: A Memoir of Madness, Memory, Myth and Metamorphosis
Mike Barnes
Published by Biblioasis ISBN 978-1897231487
(“The Lily Pond” is a memoir that explores searchingly the author’s thirty-plus years of living with bipolar disorder. It chronicles unflinchingly the destructiveness of an illness that infiltrates thinking, feeling, and acting in ways that change the very fabric of identity, of the life story one is telling oneself; but it is equally searching in its exploration of the psyche’s resources in healing and reknitting that story).

The Food and Mood Handbook: How What You Eat Can Transform How You Feel
Amanda Geary
Published by Thorsons ISBN 978-00073233807
(This is a really excellent book that is very enjoyable to read as it is well set out. It gives clear explanations as to why foods affect the mind, and gives many practical examples to improve mood. A must, for anyone who suffers from any kind of mood disorder such as depression).

When Someone You Love is Bipolar
Dr Cynthia G Last
Published by Guildford Press ISBN 978-1593856083
(This book is peppered with brilliant and intimate accounts of the personal journeys of Dr. Last, her patients, and their loving families. It is a fabulous resource for anyone who is riding the roller coaster with a spouse or partner who has bipolar disorder).

Mood Mapping: Plot your way to emotional health and happiness
Dr Liz Miller
Published by Rodale ISBN 978-19057444459
(Mood mapping simply involves plotting how you feel against your energy levels, to determine your current mood. Dr Liz Miller then gives you the tools you need to lift your low mood, so improving your mental health and wellbeing. Dr Miller developed this technique as a result of her own diagnosis of bipolar disorder (manic depression), and of overcoming it, leading her to seek ways to improve the mental health of others).

The Good Mood Diet – Boost your serotonin levels to lose weight, curb cravings – and feel great!
Judith Wurtman & Nina Frusztaier Marquis
Published by Rodale ISBN 978-1405099868
(Carbs every day keep the cravings away! Serotonin is the body?s natural ?feel good? chemical. It promotes feelings of calm, wellbeing and satisfaction, and helps us to cope with stress. Studies have shown that many of the starchy foods discouraged by popular diets actually promote serotonin production, which explains why so many of us crave these foods when stressed, and why it is so difficult to stop eating them while dieting. What?s more, scientists have found that higher levels of serotonin can actually reduce our appetite, our cravings and our tendency to overeat. By including the right carbohydrates in the right quantities at the right times, The Good Mood Diet harnesses serotonin’s power to control our appetite and make us feel good. It helps reduce food cravings and mood-related overeating, improves sleep and mood, and leads to permanent weight loss. With The Good Mood Diet, readers can expect to lose up to 1kg of pure fat each week. The diet includes an easy-to-follow 12-week programme, over 75 delicious recipes and a troubleshooting section to help readers overcome any obstacles on the road to weight loss and a better mood).

A Lifelong Journey: Staying Well With Manic Depression/Bipolar Disorder
Sally Russell
Published by Read How You Want ISBN 978-1427087348
(This book provides a wellness view of bipolar disorder. Although the stay well stories and plans do not represent all people who experience bipolar disorder, these stories fill an important gap in our understanding of the illness. Rather than focus only on the ‘burden of bipolar disorder, it is crucial to also listen to people who stay well. These stories provide proof that people with bipolar disorder can aspire to full lives).

BrainBomb: A Lurid Story of Bi-Polar Illness
Mark Fleming
Published by Chipmunkapublishing ISBN 978-1847479334
(Brainbomb tells the story of author Mark Fleming’s struggle with bipolar disorder and excessive drinking through a character he has created in the story).

Tobacco Smuggling – Tax Paid
Paul McGoldrick
Published by Diadem Books ISBN 978-0955985256
(The story of Paul McGoldrick’s experience of living with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder).

The New Mental Health Act: An Easy Read Guide
Published by Scottish Executive ISBN 978-0755952533
(An easy to read guide to the Mental Health Act Scotland 2003)

Stephen Fry’s The Secret Life Of The Manic Depressive [DVD] [2008]
(If you are affected by bipolar disorder you will find viewing this programme will give you a better understanding of what it is to both live with the condition yourself and also the impact it has upon those around you).

Rat Girl
Kristin Hersh
Published by Penguin Books ISBN 978-0143117391
(In 1985, Kristin Hersh was just beginning to find her place in the world. After beginning her music career at the age of fourteen, the precocious child of unconventional hippies was enrolled in college while her band, Throwing Muses, was getting off the ground, amid buzzing rumors of a major label deal.

Then, everything changed. Her emotional troubles were diagnosed as bipolar disorder, and – just after the band was signed – Hersh was processing news of a very different sort: she was pregnant. Suddenly, she found herself wondering whether antidepressants could be mixed with prenatal vitamins, how to balance a guitar on her swollen stomach, and whether a rock band could tour with an infant).

Bi-Polar Girl: An Irreverent Look at Bipolar Disorder
Gabrielle Blackman-Sheppard
Published by Crown House Publishing Ltd ISBN 978-184590446-3
(A very accurate and unflinching look at bipolar disorder whilst remaining light hearted. A must read for anyone who wants to know more about the illness).

Defragmenting the Soul
John Sawkins
Published by Chipmunkapublishing ISBN 978-1849913553

Lithium for Bipolar Disorder: A Guide for Patients (Bipolar Psychoeducation Series)
Dr Nick Stafford
Published by My Mind Books ISBN 978-1908445001
(This is a guide for people who have been prescribed lithium for their treatment of bipolar disorder. The book provides detailed information on the use of lithium for bipolar disorder).