Here are all the pages on this site, by Topic. Click across the three tabs below. You could just read the pages under the Essential tab to get the important stuff. Many more pages are linked from within those pages. They are also shown under the Details tab below. Technical pages are for doc’s and geeks but you’re welcome to them, one and all. If you have a particular question, try the Search spyglass up there to your right.
[tabby title=”Essentials”]
| Topic | Link and Description |
|---|---|
| Diagnosis | [tooltip tip=”Most important page on this site”] Diagnosis of depression using a Mood Spectrum approach [/tooltip] |
| The Mood Spectrum | Is bipolarity a yes/no thing, or a “How bipolar are you?” thing? |
| Mixed States | Anxiety can be a bipolar symptom? Yes. |
| Treatment | [tooltip tip=”From non-medication approaches to pills”]Treating the middle of the Mood Spectrum[/tooltip] |
| [tooltip tip=”9 alternatives to antidepressants that don’t make bipolar disorder worse”]Treating depression without antidepressants[/tooltip] | |
| [tooltip tip=”Slower! Slower! This is key for most people”]Stopping Antidepressants[/tooltip] | |
| Hope | Tried everything and nothing worked? Hope |
| Clocks | [tooltip tip=”One of the most important non-medication treatment ingredients”] Dark Therapy[/tooltip] |
| Psychotherapies | [tooltip tip=”Medications alone are not enough; everyone needs education at least, some need more”]Psychotherapies for bipolar disorders[/tooltip] |
| Medications | [tooltip tip=”Start with a master table and several other ways of evaluating medication options”]53 individual medication pages[/tooltip] |
| Thyroid | [tooltip tip=”Basic information on thyroid role in illness and treatment”]Thyroid and Bipolar Disorders[/tooltip] |
| Antidepressants | [tooltip tip=”4 reasons why antidepressants aren’t a good idea for most people with bipolarity”] Antidepressant Controversies [/tooltip] |
| Causes of Mood Disorders | [tooltip tip=”12 page series on the biologic roots of depression”]What Causes Depression? (Not a Moral Weakness)[/tooltip] |
| [tooltip tip=”5 pages on the causes of bipolar disorder”]The biologic basis of bipolar disorder[/tooltip] | |
| Hormones | Hormones and Mood |
[tabby title=”Details”]
| Topic | Link and Description |
|---|---|
| Diagnosis | [tooltip tip=”Frequently asked questions about Mood Spectrum diagnoses”]Diagnosis FAQ[/tooltip] |
| [tooltip tip=”A doctor’s account of her mood swings and their effects”]Normal is a Place I Visit[/tooltip] | |
| [tooltip tip=”A diagnostic questionnaire that’s short and good but still imperfect: the BSDS”]The Best Test?[/tooltip] and the related essay on [tooltip tip=”Developer of the BSDS explains how to interpret a result”]Interpreting the BSDS[/tooltip] | |
| Bipolar Spectrum | [tooltip tip=”Thoroughly assess ‘bipolarity'”] Harvard’s Bipolarity Index[/tooltip] |
| Other Diagnoses | [tooltip tip=”A common (wrong) question”] Borderline or Bipolar? [/tooltip] |
| Generalized Anxiety or Bipolar? | |
| [tooltip tip=”It’s not necessarily schizophrenia or ‘schizoaffective’. Bipolar disorders can also cause voices and delusions”]Bipolar Psychosis[/tooltip] | |
| [tooltip tip=”Wouldn’t you rather have something you can fix with diet and vitamins? of course”] Pyrolluria[/tooltip] | |
| Treatment | [tooltip tip=”Frequently asked, important questions about Mood Spectrum treatments”]Treatment FAQ[/tooltip] |
| [tooltip tip=”Can you trust what you read here? Compare international guidelines”]Treatment Guidelines[/tooltip] | |
| Marijuana and Bipolar Disorder | |
| [tooltip tip=”Tracking your cycling and exercise (or lack thereof) using paper or electronic devices”]MoodCharting[/tooltip] | |
| Clocks | [tooltip tip=”Why managing light, especially blue light, really matters”]Light and Darkness [/tooltip] |
| [tooltip tip=”Overnight improvement in mood, without medications”]Chronotherapy[/tooltip] | |
| [tooltip tip=”Everything I’d want someone to know about light therapy before starting it”]Light Therapy[/tooltip] | |
| [tooltip tip=”Much easier way to do light therapy, and cheaper”]Dawn Simulators[/tooltip] | |
| Psychotherapies | [tooltip tip=”Very high quality but hard on your own”]Free online CBT therapy[/tooltip] |
| [tooltip tip=”Let’s look instead at what’s getting in the way”]Exercise: not the usual rap[/tooltip] | |
| [tooltip tip=”Can you exercise even when severely depressed? These two women say you can”]Exercise testimonial[/tooltip] | |
| [tooltip tip=”Humans are not very good at making decisions about risk”]Humans making health choices —yipes![/tooltip] | |
| Medications | [tooltip tip=”lamotrigine, lithium, quetiapine (not yet lurasidone): where to start?”]Bipolar depression: the big three[/tooltip] |
| [tooltip tip=”Low-dose is different,and other starting-point information”]Don’t let lithium frighten you[/tooltip]; lithium could prevent Alzheimer’s? |
|
| [tooltip tip=”Many psych’ medications cause weight gain. If we had an effective ‘antidote’ you would have more treatment options.”] Weight gain antidotes[/tooltip] | |
| Thyroid | Thyroid as a mood stabilizer |
| Bone risk from thyroid? Heart risk? | |
| Antidepressants | [tooltip tip=”Two genes associated with having suicidal thoughts on an antidepressant”]Antidepressants causing suicidal thinking: genetics[/tooltip] |
| [tooltip tip=”It can take months for the effects to clear?”]Antidepressants stopped: how long to wait? [/tooltip]; more than a half-life issue |
|
| Miscellaneous | [tooltip tip=”Sometimes it’s not easy to get your point across or work collaboratively; some ideas on that problem”]Talking to your doctor[/tooltip]/ [tooltip tip=”A letter from me to accompany you when you try this”] and a cover letter[/tooltip] |
| Hormones | Menopause |
| Menopause and bipolar disorders | |
| Premenstrual syndrome and the formal PMDD | |
| Estrogen basics | |
| Insulin | Metabolic syndrome, the variation called PCOS, and distinguishing the two; metabolic/mood connections; and metformin. |
| [tooltip tip=”Many psych’ medications cause weight gain. If we had an effective ‘antidote’ you would have more treatment options.”] Weight gain antidotes[/tooltip] | |
| Anxiety | Panic Disorder |
| OCD Treatment | |
| Social Anxiety Treatment | |
| Benzodiazepines (Xanax to Valium) | |
| Brain Tours | 20 pages of simplified anatomy |
[tabby title=”Technical”]
| Topic | Link and Description |
|---|---|
| Diagnosis | [tooltip tip=”Helps solve the high false positive problem”]MoodCheck: primary care bipolar screener[/tooltip] |
| [tooltip tip=”Developer of the BSDS explains how to interpret a result”]Interpreting the BSDS[/tooltip] | |
| [tooltip tip=”32 more subtle hypomanic symptoms”]Hypomania Checklist[/tooltip] | |
| [tooltip tip=”Details of the MDQ performance problem and how to handle it”]MDQ in primary care[/tooltip] | |
| Bipolar Spectrum | Key excerpts from interview with Dr. Sachs; and the full interview |
| [tooltip tip=”Diagnostic Updates from the International Society for Bipolar Disorders 2008″]ISBD Diagnosis[/tooltip] | |
| NIMH RDoC | |
| Overdiagnosis | |
| Other Diagnoses | Bipolar/Borderline Disagreement |
| Temperament | |
| Evolution of Temperament | |
| Clocks | [tooltip tip=”an evolutionary guess”]Why clocks like blue[/tooltip] |
| [tooltip tip=”A dramatic cycling yet missed because… no obvious hypomania”]Annual cycling but not “bipolar” [/tooltip] | |
| 24-hr cycling | |
| Medications | The history of lithium |
| [tooltip tip=”another way to do lithium at very low doses”]lithium orotate[/tooltip] | |
| lithium risks | |
| Thyroid | T3 or T4? |
| Thyroid conversions | |
| Thyroid micro-details | |
| Antidepressants | [tooltip tip=”An old but still relevant pair of essays about the role of antidepressants in bipolar disorders”]The debate about antidepressants [/tooltip] |
| [tooltip tip=”excruciating detail about 3 studies; you’ve been warned…”]Altshuler & Ghaemi data [/tooltip] | |
| Causes of Mood Disorders | Trophic and Tropic |
| BDNF | |
| Bcl-2 | |
| On evolution | |
| Temperament and evolution | |
| Hormones | PMDD |
| Insulin | Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome: PCOS |
| PCOS and Metabolic Syndrome | |
| Carbohydrates and mood | |
| Body fat causes mood? | |
| Lactic acidosis | |
| Anxiety | Anxiety-focused CBT online |
[tabbyending]