Teaching Clients with Bipolar Disorder to Self-Monitor for Symptoms and Triggers

Description

Presenter: Sheri L. Johnson, Ph.D. is a professor at the University of California Berkeley, where she runs the Cal Mania (CALM) Program.  She has conducted research on bipolar disorder over the past 20 years, with funding from the National Alliance from Schizophrenia and Depression and the National Institute of Mental Health.  She is the current president of the Society for Research in Psychopathology.  She has published over 200 manuscripts, and is a co-author of a leading textbook on abnormal psychology as well as several books on bipolar disorder.  Overview: This program will cover basic psychoeducational techniques that are core to many different empirically supported approaches to bipolar disorder.  A growing body of research indicates that psychosocial treatments, including CBT, can reduce the rate of relapse, lower symptoms, decrease hospitalizations, and improve quality of life among those diagnosed with bipolar disorder when offered as an adjunct to medication.  Techniques described here are commonly employed in CBT.  The triggers will be summarized based on a large literature focused on psychosocial predictors of symptom change within bipolar disorder. Objectives: (1) Learn about different ways to help clients develop their own monitoring systems; (2) Use a variety of computerized or paper approaches to personalized monitoring; (3) Be familiar with the most common triggers of manic and depressive symptoms within bipolar disorder.