Depression and Bipolar Disorders
Most people feel sad or irritable from time to time. They may say they are in a bad mood, or “woke up on the wrong side of the bed.” A mood disorder is different. It affects all aspects of a person’s everyday emotional state. Mood disorders like Depression and Bipolar Disorder can disrupt your ability to function at school, work, and at home. You may not be able to complete daily responsibilities, finding that your relationships have become strained. Mood disorders also can affect physical health, causing an increase in heart disease, diabetes, sleep disturbance, and a variety of other medical conditions. Children also experience mood disorders, but the way in which they are manifest may be different. Symptoms of a mood disorder in children are irritability, defiance, aggression, changes in eating and sleeping patterns, poor concentration, diminished social and academic functioning, and low self-esteem.
At Family Psychology Associates, our highly trained team of licensed mental health professionals are well equipped to help our clients find relief from their depressive symptoms. We have state of the art psychological testing to measure the extent of your mood disorder at the outset of therapy, as well as to monitor your progress in therapy. We offer individual and group therapy designed to help our client ease their suffering. Cognitive behavioral therapy is the primary approach that we utilize, but we also include interpersonal techniques to improve social relationships. Because mood disorders affect the entire family, we offer couples counseling and family therapy to make the family a more understanding support system. To schedule an appointment, please visit our Contact Us page.
Recommended Readings:
When Perfect Isn’t Good Enough: Strategies for Coping with Perfectionism. Martin Antony and Richard Swinson, 2009.
Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy. David D. Burns, 2012.
Mind Over Mood: Change How You Feel by Changing the Way You Think. Dennis Greenberger and Christine Padesky, 1995.
My Feeling Better Workbook: Help for Kids Who Are Sad and Depressed. Sara Hamil, 2008.
An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness. Kay Redfield Jamison, 2009.
The Bipolar Disorder Survival Guide, Second Edition: What You and Your Family Need to Know. David J. Miklowitz, 2010.
The Bipolar Teen: What You Can Do to Help Your Child and Your Family. David J. Miklowitz and Elizabeth George, 2007.
Undoing Depression: What Therapy Doesn’t Teach You and Medication Can’t Give You. Richard O’Conner, 2010.
The Bipolar Child: The Definitive and Reassuring Guide to Childhood’s Most Misunderstood Disorder. Dimitri Papolos and Janice Papolos, 2007.
The Mindful Way through Depression: Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness. Mark Williams, John Teasdale, Zinder Segal and Jon Kabat-Zinn, 2012.
