Bipolar Disorder: A Family-Focused Treatment Approach

by David J. Miklowitz PhD

Overview

Family-focused psychoeducational treatment (FFT) is among a very small number of psychosocial treatments that have been found to be effective in multiple studies to improve the course of bipolar disorder. This indispensable guide describes how to implement FFT with adult and adolescent patients and their family members. Provided are practical procedures for helping families understand the nature of bipolar disorder, strengthen their communication skills, solve day-to-day problems, and reduce the risk and severity of relapse. The book incorporates state-of-the-art knowledge on the illness and its biological and psychosocial management. More than a dozen reproducible handouts are included.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781606236499
Publisher:	Guilford Publications, Inc.
Publication date:	02/08/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	348
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

David J. Miklowitz, PhD, is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), School of Medicine and Senior Clinical Researcher at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom. He directs the Child and Adolescent Mood Disorders Program and the Integrative Study Center in Mood Disorders at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. Dr. Miklowitz is a recipient of the Distinguished Investigator Award from the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, the Mogens Schou Award for Research from the International Society for Bipolar Disorders, the Bipolar Mood Disorder Research Award from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, and the Gerald L. Klerman Senior Investigator Award from the Depressive and Bipolar Support Alliance. 

Table of Contents

I. Bipolar Disorder and Families: Clinical and Research Background

1. Bipolar Disorder: Why Family Treatment?

2. The Nature of Bipolar Disorder and Its Impact on the Family

3. Family and Social Factors in the Course of Bipolar Disorder

II. Conducting Family-Focused Treatment

4. Planning the First Encounter

5. The Functional Assessment

6. Family Psychoeducation: The Initial Sessions

7. Family Psychoeducation: Etiology, Treatment, and Self-Management

8. Family Psychoeducation: Dealing with Resistances

9. Communication Enhancement Training: Rationale and Mechanics

10. Communication Enhancement Training: Clinical Issues

11. Dealing with Family Problems

12. Managing Crises in Family-Focused Treatment

13. Termination

Interviews

Therapists from any background who work with clients and their families, including psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, counselors, and nurses, as well as students in these areas. Serves as a supplementary text for advanced undergraduate and graduate-level courses in psychopathology or family/marital therapy.

Editorial Reviews

Extending hope to those with recurring bouts of bipolar disorder, Miklowitz (psychology, U. of Colorado) and Goldstein (psychology, UCLA) offer context on this frequently misdiagnosed affective disorder as well as a clinical guide to their pioneering outpatient treatment approach combining family intervention and medication. Contains reproducible Communication Enhancement Training client handouts. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Booknews

"This is an indispensable treatment guide for all clinicians dealing with bipolar patients. Infused with clinical wisdom, transmitted in illustrative clinical vignettes, it is a clearly written guide to a family-based program. In a managed care environment, this is a focused, flexible, and efficient treatment." —John F. Clarkin, PhD, Professor of Clinical Psychology in Psychiatry, Cornell University Medical College; Director of Psychology, The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center

"Greatly influenced by the late Michael Goldstein's innovative work on family intervention in schizophrenia, this book is the fruit of Miklowitz and Goldstein's collaboration in the application of similar approaches to the equally great challenge of ameliorating the course of manic-depressive illness through family intervention. In this book, David Miklowitz and, regrettably posthumously, Michael Goldstein bring the wisdom of their psychoeducational approach and the techniques for applying it to practicing clinicians. Whether such clinicians typically treat individuals, couples, or entire families, they will benefit enormously from the perspective offered here and find much to incorporate into their work with patients suffering from bipolar disorder." —Ellen Frank, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

"This book [presents] the first treatment approach for bipolar disorder that truly integrates the use of medication and family intervention....Miklowitz and Goldstein succeed brilliantly in not being bound to a Procrustean bed of limited therapeutic rules. Instead, their treatment guidelines continuously emphasize a 'psychotherapeutic attitude' in which the experience, stories, and special life circumstances of the family members are given attention....This volume should quickly become required reading in every family and marital therapy training program. In addition, it should be read as well by all professionals, especially psychiatrists, who need to learn more about how the effectiveness of the medications they prescribe can be substantially enhanced with family-focused treatment." —From the Foreword by Lyman C. Wynne

From the Publisher