David Oliver is all too aware of the devastation that bipolar disorder can cause in a family.His mother has been suffering from bipolar disorder all of her life.Unfortunately, his family made many mistakes in the way they handled her problem until David decided to find a way to help his mother and the millions of other individuals and families who live with bipolar disorder.

To understand what David has done and what he is still trying to accomplish, one needs some background information about him and his family.As stated earlier, his mother has had bipolar disorder for most of her life and as he was growing up he remembered witnessing some of her depressive and manic episodes.His family didn't talk about them or the disorder.Instead, they pretended nothing was wrong and left his mother with the responsibility of finding help on her own.That was one of the biggest mistakes the Oliver family made.

After David realized that his mother simply couldn't fight the disorder alone, he decided to help her, even though it meant he was going to be the only family member shouldering the responsibility.He knew he couldn't just keep pretending her disorder would fix itself.Unfortunately, he knew very little about bipolar disorder at this time even though he had been experiencing its effects all his life.

So, David made learning about bipolar disorder a top priority.He took off from work for nine months and devoted himself entirely to his research.He talked to dozens of medical professionals, attended support groups, read almost every book available, and did everything possible to find out more about bipolar disorder.

After those nine months were over, he was able to use that information to get his mother on the right track and to start putting a plan together that would help his mom be completely independent and also make it easier for his family to deal with future episodes if they occurred.

While David was glad to have helped his mother, he also realized there simply wasn't enough information available to give him and others the tools they needed to effectively help the people they loved.David learned from firsthand experience that information of that sort was desperately needed.

His sincere hope is that by continuing to learn more about bipolar disorder and how to help those who have it, he can prevent other families from making the same mistakes that his family made.He doesn't want other families to spend decades in the dark when he could be helping them learn how to make life better for themselves and for their loved ones.David is dedicated to helping other people and their families understand the legal, medical, financial, spiritual, mental, and emotional issues that go along with bipolar disorder.

In this interview he responds to some questions about bi-polar and the issues involved in the management of bi-polar disorder.

1) Dave, first of all, let me apologize for not getting this on the net in a timely manner, but I just found out that Oct 11th was Bipolar Disorder Awareness Day. Who started this and when?

It was established in 1990 by Congress, the first week of October is designated as "Mental Illness Awareness Week" (MIAW) in Recognition of NAMI's efforts to raise mental illness awareness.

(NOTE:NAMI stands for National Alliance on Mental Illness.)

"Bipolar Disorder Awareness Day" (BDAD) is held each year on the second Thursday of October. This year it was held on October 11th- to encourage further understanding and promote early intervention and treatment for this mental illness.

MIAW and BDAD are NAMI's premiere public awareness and public education campaigns that link the organization nationally to the organization's over 1100 local affiliates across the country.

Over the past 16 years, MIAW has become a tradition in NAMI.It presents an opportunity for all three levels of NAMI-national, state, and local- to work together in communities across the country in meeting the NAMI mission through a variety of outreach, educational, and advocacy efforts.

2) Has the incidence of Bipolar disorder increased and where did you get your data from?

Right now a study just came out that suggests that 4.4% of the population has some degree of bipolar disorder during a lifetime. See:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,270625,00.html

3) I believe that there are different types of bipolar disorder. Could you briefly describe a few?

Here is an excerpt from my Bipolar Supporter Guide:

Bipolar I - These individuals suffer from severe episodes of mania and depression.The symptoms of both stages usually interfere with their ability to work and to function normally.Manic episodes can be accompanied by delusions and can require hospitalization.

Bipolar II - These individuals suffer from severe depressive stages and what are called hypomanias, which are less severe versions of manias.While the depressive stage for this group may limit their productivity, the hypomanias are usually less disruptive and rarely require hospitalization.In fact, the biggest difference between Bipolar I and Bipolar II is the severity of the manic episodes.

Cyclothymic Disorder - These individuals have episodes of mild depression and hypomania, but neither stage is severe.

While it may seem from looking at the descriptions above that those with Bipolar II or Cyclothymic Disorder may be the lucky ones, the reality is that these are the individuals who are less likely to get any type of medical treatment and, as a result, can end up leading seriously limited lives.Continuous support and treatment are, therefore, still very important for them.

Both of these milder forms of bipolar disorder are more common than Bipolar I.

Before we talk any further about the different types of bipolar disorder, we first should look at the symptoms.We'll talk more about these later, but for now they will help you understand the differences between the three types.

As we look at the symptoms, keep in mind that not all of these symptoms may be present at one time. Some occur only in very severe episodes while others sufferers may not experience them at all.

Full Manias (as experienced by people with Bipolar I):

.Individuals will feel extremely happy, excited, and joyful

.Individuals will talk more than usual and at a faster speed

.Individuals will become more active and will find sitting still to be very difficult

.Individuals will be easily distracted and will feel like their thoughts are racing

.Individuals will require less sleep

.Individuals will feel overconfident and their self-esteem will be inflated

.Individuals will do things, such as make purchases, without thinking about them beforehand and will exhibit poor decision-making skills

.Individuals will not believe that they have mental illness

.Individuals will be more irritable

.Individuals will have an increased interest in sex and/or may bemore sexually active

.Individuals may experience delusions and/or hallucinations

Hypomania (as experienced by people with Bipolar II and Cyclothymic Disorder)

.Individuals will feel extremely happy, excited, and joyful

.Individuals will talk more than usual and at a faster speed

.Individuals will become more active and will find sitting still to be very difficult

.Individuals will have an increased interest in sex and/or may be more sexually active

.Individuals will be more irritable

.Individuals will be more reckless and may make bad choices

4) What are the MAIN management issues that wives, husbands, children and other have to face in this regard?

Handling the ups and down of the disorder, protecting money from a person in an episode, not taking things personally, getting a person who isn't doing well into treatment, constant vigilance about future episodes forever.

5) Back when I was a grad student, I knew that Lithium was the most effective treatment. Have things changed? Are there other medications?

I am not a doctor but based on what I have seen and heard (I have over 100,000 on my mailing list, more than 10 people who work for me that I have a mental illness, have done over 150 interviews with people with bipolar disorder and written countless articles), it is effective and there are other drugs. The key however is to find a good doctor/therapist and work with him/her to figure out what medication or medications will work best.

Everyone is different and different medications work differently on different people. This is an important point to stress. For example, my mother's doctor has said that the combination of medications that works for her hasn't work for anyone else in her practice in a long time.

6) Is counseling helpful? Or should caregivers focus on management?

Talk therapy is very helpful to both the supporter and the person with bipolar disorder.

7) What are the main symptoms? Characteristics?

See above.

8) Are there support groups out there? Web sites?

Yes there are. The largest network is the depression and bipolar support alliance (http://www.dbsa.org/ ), I have a site at www.bipolarcentral.com and there are others one can find by running a search in google by typing "bipolar" or "bipolar disorder".

9) What question have I neglected to ask?

I think this is great. Maybe a follow up interview which would be longer would be the 7 or 10 mistakes people make when trying to help someone with bipolar disorder.

Published October 16, 2007