Louisa Grandin Sylvia - The Wellness Workbook for Bipolar Disorder: Your Guide to Getting Healthy and Improving Your Mood

A must-read! Louisa Grandin Sylvias wellness plan addresses the key ingredients essential to creating a healthy lifestyle.

Muffy Walker, MSN, MBA, cofounder and chairman of the International Bipolar Foundation

When dealing with depression and other mood-related issues, we who have mood disorder diagnoses can become laser-focused on deficits or fixing whats wrong. While symptom reduction and elimination are naturally goals of most peoples treatment plans, these canand Id say mustbe joined with concurrent creation of wellness practices. Louisa Grandin Sylvias book is an empowering road map for those of us who want to shift our focus from solely reaction to symptoms to proactive creation of resiliency-enhancing diet, exercise, sleep, and other wellness-related choices.

Allen Doederlein, president of the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance

There is no easy solution to creating a healthier lifestyle, especially if you have bipolar disorder, but this book can help. It offers user-friendly tools to increase your motivation to make the necessary lifestyle changes that you need to improve your mental and physical health. Anyone living with mood disturbance could benefit from reading this book.

Lauren B. Alloy, PhD, professor at Joseph Wolpe Distinguished Faculty and director of clinical training at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA

Louisa Grandin Sylvia has assembled an extraordinary resource that succinctly and comprehensively brings together empirically supported science and recommendations to preserve and regain health. I would strongly recommend that this book, written in an accessible manner, be on the reading list of any individual who strives for optimal physical and mental health.

Roger S. McIntyre, MD, FRCPC, professor of psychiatry and pharmacology at the University of Toronto, and head of the Mood Disorders Psychopharmacology Unit at the University Health Network

We have only recently understood that lifestyle factors including smoking, physical inactivity, and poor diet contribute to a persons risk of developing mood problems. We now know that addressing these factors reduces symptoms in people who have mood problems. Whats missing is a practical synthesis of this information to guide people who have mood problems on how to target these factors to improve their physical and mental health. This book by Louisa Grandin Sylvia, an acknowledged expert in lifestyle and mood disorders, is an invaluable aid for those wishing to take control of their lifestyles and improve their mood.

Michael Berk, MD, NHMRC, senior principal research fellow and Alfred Deakin Professor of Psychiatry at the Deakin University School of Medicine

Despite decades of research, there is no silver bullet that will quickly end bipolar disorder. The best way for someone with bipolar disorder to reclaim their life is by crafting a health-promoting lifestyle. The research on the effects of sleep, diet, and exercise are each compelling. This book brings the pieces together into an integrated approach that is clearly explained, with examples based on stories of people who have succeeded, and based on ongoing research. Experts advocate a lifestyle approach for heart health. Louisa Grandin Sylvia provides a plan for brain health. The strategies will complement other treatments by focusing on quality of life, energy, and functioning, not just reducing the symptoms and stress associated with bipolar disorder. This book is a leading example of the next-generation approach to mood disorders, recognizing the connection between body and mind and using that to help the whole person.

Eric Youngstrom, PhD, professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

In this important book, Louisa Grandin Sylvia provides readers with a step-by-step approach for improving diet, exercise, and sleepall habits that can have powerful effects on mood and health. Readers will find this book rich in information and clinical examples, with crucial attention devoted to the barriers and bad habits that can derail wellness goals.

Michael W. Otto, PhD, professor of psychological and brain sciences at Boston University and author of Exercise for Mood and Anxiety Disorders

Publishers Note

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering psychological, financial, legal, or other professional services. If expert assistance or counseling is needed, the services of a competent professional should be sought.

Distributed in Canada by Raincoast Books

Copyright 2015 by Louisa Grandin Sylvia

New Harbinger Publications, Inc.

5674 Shattuck Avenue

Oakland, CA 94609

www.newharbinger.com

Cover design by Amy Shoup

Acquired by Catharine Meyers

Edited by Jasmine Star

All Rights Reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Sylvia, Louisa Grandin.

The wellness workbook for bipolar disorder : improve your mood, lose weight, and feel better / Louisa Grandin Sylvia, PhD.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-1-62625-130-4 (paperback) -- ISBN 978-1-62625-131-1 (pdf e-book) -- ISBN 978-1-62625-132-8 (epub) 1. Manic-depressive illness. 2. Manic-depressive illness--Treatment. 3. Manic-depressive illness--Nutritional aspects. 4. Behavior modification. 5. Self-care, Health. I. Title.

RC516.S95 2015

616.895--dc23

2015005421

For my clients, whose stories are the backdrop to this book. You have taught me so much.

For my family, who have had the patience and fortitude to stick by me. You covered for me every step of the way.

Thank you.