Quotes from Kay Jamison, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
“There’s this notion that mania and depression are uncommon or certainly that mania is uncommon, and that is not true. The bipolar illness spectrum is associated with a lot of very damaging things, most importantly suicide, but also alcohol and drug use and violence. It’s a very early onset illness, so unlike dementia or heart disease, which hit people much later in life, these hit people when they’re young. They have to cope with [bipolar disorder] when they’re young, and they don’t have the experience of life to help them out. That tends to be overlooked, what it does to people and their families, and how devastating it is. First and foremost, I would want people to know that it’s treatable, imperfectly treatable, but treatable, and it’s important to get it treated….It’s completely reasonable to extend hope to somebody who has bipolar illness but to also make it very clear that it’s hard. But draw upon what you know. Read, read, read. Learn about it. Badger your doctors. Why are they doing this? What’s the point of this drug rather than that drug? Always question what’s happening to you. “
Editor’s Note: One of the most important things that people with mood disorder can do, is to every night chart chart their mood, functioning, sleep, medications, and other symptoms so that this graphic longitudinal assessment can be shown to their physician/therapist at each visit. This will help most efficiently refining the treatment regimen for an optimal long term outcome. See www.bipolarnews.org (click on Personal Calendar or Life Chart) for a good format for doing these daily ratings.
Parents of children (age 2-12) with mood and behavioral disorders can each week rate the severity of their child’s symptoms of anxiety, depression, ADHD, oppositional behavior, and mania on a secure website. This can be printed out to assist physicians with the assessment of need for treatment and of how well treatment is working. Informed consent for this system is available at www.bipolarnews.org (click on Child Network).
