Treatment of Bipolar Illness: A Casebook for Clinicians and Patients
Robert M. Post, M.D.
Gabriele S. Leverich
Interviews and appearances:
Hear Dr. Robert Post discuss Treatment of Bipolar Illness and How to Treat Resistant Bipolar Patients on the Clinician's Roundtable, a REACH MD satellite radio program. Use promo code BSHost for three months of free online access.
Podcast link: http://www.reachmd.com/xmsegment.aspx? sid=3560
Praise for Treatment of Bipolar Illness
“This book represents an excellent resource for practicing clinicians, who will identify many of their patients in the richly described cases and whose patients may therefore find benefit in their treatment….I believe this book will also have permanency...represents a new approach to individualized, personalized medicine that is much needed in these times of massive randomized clinical trials in which individuals do not even make it anymore as tiny dots in regression graphs."
—The American Journal of Psychiatry
“Robert Post is one of the modern pioneers and towering figures in the investigation and treatment of bipolar illness. This volume is a master class in bipolar disorder."
—Russell T. Joffe, MD, Professor of Psychiatry, New Jersey Medical School
“This uniquely original book is the culmination of Robert Post’s decades of pioneering research and clinical work at NIMH and the Stanley Network in understanding the origin, course, and treatment response in bipolar disorder. [...] This work sets a new standard that should transform the day-to-day care of these patients and their families. It is a clinical masterpiece that would be hard to surpass."
—Hagop S. Akiskal, M.D., Professor and Director of International Mood Center, Department of Psychiatry and Division of International Health and Cross- Cultural Medicine, University of California at San Diego
Overview—Contents—Excerpt
Most of the current research on bipolar disorder concentrates primarily on short-term therapeutic approaches to acute episodes of mania or depression. Treatment of BipolarIllness sets itself apart by focusing on the longitudinal course of manic-depressive illness and nuances of clinical decision-making in its long-term treatment. Covering a broad range of drugs used alone and in complex combination therapy, Post and Leverich present the most comprehensive compendium to date of bipolar research, focusing on long-term prevention of symptom relapse and addressing a range of critical clinical questions that remain relatively unaddressed:
• Do the few patients who achieve short-term remission maintain it?
• Do those with substantial partial improvement continue to follow this trajectory to remission or do they “stall out”?
• And what adjunctive treatments are required to achieve full stabilization for themuch improved or minimally improved patient?
In more than 60 unique case histories, the authors follow each patient’s course of illness and response to treatment. Each chapter also includes background literature and references, a list of 8 to 15 principles for clinical therapeutics, and an overview or take-home message. Also included are chapters on neurobiology and general pharmacology, details for professionals, and overviews for students.
Contents
I. Introduction
II. Phenomenology of Untreated Course of Illness
III. Pharmacology and Neurobiology of Bipolar Illness
IV. Response to Mood Stabilizers
V. Other Anticonvulsants
VI. Calcium Channel Blockers
VII. Antidepressants
VIII. Benzodiazepines
IX. Antipsychotics
X. Complex Combination Therapy
XI. Electroconvulsive Therapy
XII. Other Somatic Treatments
XIII. Dietary and Other Supplements
XIV. Illness Complications and Comorbidity
XV. Childhood Onset of Bipolar Illness
XVI. Conclusion
XVII. Appendices
Excerpt
From Treatment of Bipolar Illness:
We have found that the life chart becomes a useful clinical tool and may help trigger earlier and different therapeutic interventions by uncovering illness patterns, and by discerning early trends in a patient’s course and response to treatment that are not otherwise easily evident from even very extensive written hospital and outpatient records.
About the Authors
Robert M. Post, M.D., is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, George Washington University, and Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA and has worked at NIMH for 37 years studying and treating unipolar and bipolar patients who experienced treatment resistance to conventional medication. He and his group have won more than a dozen national and international awards for helping to better understand and treat the recurrent affective disorders.
His models have led to the reconceptualization of the affective disorders as potentially progressive, increasingly damaging the self and the brain unless treated vigorously in long-term prevention.
Gabriele S. Leverich, MSW, is a Board Certified Diplomate of Social Work. As Head of Longitudinal Studies during 22 years in the Biological Psychiatry Branch at NIMH and as a Principal Investigator in the Bipolar Collaborative Network, she has published over 140 articles and is a recognized expert in the course, morbidity, and treatment of bipolar illness.
ISBN 10: 0-393-70537-4
ISBN 13: 978-0-393-70537-9
2008 / 704 pages / hardcover
