You have your own health history. Talk with your doctor about your risk factors and background with bipolar disorder. By talking openly and often with your doctor, you can make the best choices for you and your family.
General Tips for Gathering Information
Here are some tips that will make it simpler for you to talk to your doctor:
Specific Questions to Ask Your doctor
About Bipolar Disorder
About Treatment Options
About Counseling
You may decide to try counseling. Ask counselors, social workers, psychologists, and/or family therapists questions about whether they work with people who have bipolar disorder. Make sure that you feel at ease with the mental health providers. You may want to ask:
About Lifestyle Changes
About Outlook
Bipolar disorder. EBSCO DynaMed website. Available at:https://www.dynamed.com/condition/bipolar-disorder. Updated September 9, 2019. Accessed October 10, 2019.
Bipolar disorder in adults. National Institute of Mental Health website. Available at: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/bipolar-disorder-tr-15-3679/index.shtml. Updated October 2018. Accessed October 10, 2019.
Tips for talking to your doctor. American Academy of Family Physicians Family Doctor website. Available at: http://familydoctor.org/familydoctor/en/healthcare-management/working-with-your-doctor/tips-for-talking-to-your-doctor.html. Updated January 19, 2018. Accessed October 10, 2019.
Yatham LN, Kennedy SH, et al. Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments (CANMAT) and International Society for Bipolar Disorders (ISBD) 2018 guidelines for the management of patients with bipolar disorder. Bipolar Disord. 2018 Mar;20(2):97-170.
Last reviewed September 2019 by EBSCO Medical Review Board Rimas Lukas, MD