Bipolar resources
Discover bipolar resources to inform and empower you.
There are many excellent resources about bipolar disorder. However, sometimes there is just so much information available that we get overloaded. And unfortunately, some sites have unreliable information or hidden agendas.
Here is our directory of the best of the best - handpicked sites that we have already vetted and where we know you can surf with confidence.
There are 2 commercial sites we endorse:
1. The Bipolar Diet:
Sarah's very own e-Book on managing mood, food and weight, especially weight gain from bipolar medications.
2. Binaural Beats:
based on over 70 years of scientific research, these easy to use audios quickly shift your brainwaves and control your mood and mental state without drugs or complicated, time consuming and risky or unproven "techniques". If you don't know yet about the fascinating technology of brainwave entrainment, these are really worth discovering.
Professional organizations
Top of my list has to be
The Black Dog Institute.
The Black Dog Institute is an educational, research, clinical and community-oriented facility dedicated to improving understanding, diagnosis and treatment of mood disorders. They offer everthing from diagnostic tests, to writing competitions to bleeding edge research findings in a dynamic, exciting but easy to use site.
The next significant organization I want to mention is the
Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA).
DBSA have really spruced up their site lately, with podcasts, exciting contests, and easy to access information on diagnosis and treatment. They have a range of excellent bite-sized publications on everything from Food and Mood to a downloadable mini Mood Calendar.
The National Intitute of Mental Health (NIMH) have a great
NIMH Bipolar Disorder in Adults page.
This is offered as part of the NIMH Mood and Anxiety Disorder Program. It provides links to the latest cliniscal research studies on bipolar disorder, and a link back to the NIMH's main bipolar information site.
Personal bipolar sites
The bipolar resources I am suggesting here are actually one bipolar blog and one bipolar site.
Bipolar Chicks Blogging
has the perfect bipolar tag line: "It seemed like a good idea at the time". I don't know about you, but I can sure relate to that. Funny, candid, real and clever. Any bipolar person will recognize themselves in these posts, maybe flinch a little, but come away feeling better about the world. Kay Redfield Jamison is right - we ARE more creative!
Next a personal site I really love: Juliet's
Bipolar Brain.
This site is special for a couple of reasons. It combines high quality factual information about bipolar with very personal writings about Juliet's experiences, including her hospitalizations. It also includes fabulous creative expressions in the form of animations, poetry and artwork. Somthing very special about it is that the site includes comments from Greg, Juliet's husband, on her illness and their relationship. This is a great site for those in relationships, creative people, or basically anyone with a beating heart. Thank you Juliet and Greg!
Best kept secrets
One of the most under-used gems on the Net, for bipolar people, is
bp Magazine.
This is an excellent magazine devoted to bipolar disorder. It is possible to subscribe to the hard copy (which I do suggest) and to access the back issues online. The only drawback is that the back issues are not indexed so you need to just click through them until you find something useful or interesting. It is worth the effort. Included in every edition are invaluable bipolar resources. Information is expressed clearly and concisely, and covers a lot of "hot topics" - and bp Magazine are not afraid to present a range of viewpoints.
Some of you will know I am lawyer. You probably won't be surprised to see me include
Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
as another under-used but very valuable one of our bipolar resources. This is the United States leading civil rights organization representing people with mental illnesses or mental retardation. If you need information about legal issues, or are interested in mental health advocacy, this is definitely the place to start.
Tools
This final section is where you will find bipolar resources that are not always explicitly for the bipolar community, but which are really helpful tools for daily living.
Bipolar scholarships
Reliable bipolar resources about bipolar scholarships are scarce, but lately readers have ben asking about bipolar scholarships a lot. We now have a page dedicated to
Bipolar Scholarships
and wish you the best of luck with your college endeavors.
Bipolar Treatment Centers
Sometimes a period of skilled treatment and intense self-care is necessary.
See our page on Bipolar Treatment Centers.
Other bipolar resources
We have a further page of
great links on bipolar disorder and relevant issues.
The goal with this second page is variety and quantity. We don't monitor the contents as closely, but we are sure you will find something new to intrigue or inspire you.
Free bipolar resources
Some wonderful resources are available exclusively through Bipolar-Lives.com at absolutely no cost to you!
No need for any passwords, no registration - nope - we are not even asking you for your email address :)
Just click and download and discover these now:
1. "Food and Mood: Secrets to Managing Mood Swings, Food and Weight
2. The Bipolar Toolkit: Taking Charge of Your Own Recovery,
Return from Bipolar Resources to Bipolar Lives home page
|
