Depressed, Borderline, or Bipolar? Accurate Diagnosis & Best Treatments

• • List the seven cardinal symptoms of mania and hypomania
• • Coordinate an assessment including symptoms, course of illness, temperament, family history, and medication reaction
• • Identify and manage patients with covert alcohol and drug use
• • Detail four predictors of suicide completion, how to prevent suicide, and how to protect yourself from legal liability
• • Recognize key strategies from empirically-validated psychosocial treatments that you can use with your patients immediately
• • Review research-proven medications for patients with bipolar illness, and potent non-drug treatments

Why is Your Patient Still Unstable & Depressed?
Patients with symptoms of both mood and personality disorders, or with histories of substance abuse, present unique diagnostic and treatment challenges. A recent study by the National Institutes of Mental Health found that nearly 40% of patients with symptoms of major depressive disorder actually had bipolar disorder. These patients are often mistakenly treated for years with antidepressants and non-specific or ineffective forms of psychotherapy or counseling. Antidepressants have been shown to be no more effective than mood stabilizing medications alone for preventing depression in bipolar patients, and can actually destabilize the course of their illness. This seminar provides clinicians with a 4-part, clinical diagnostic method to distinguish patients with personality disorders and unipolar depression from those with bipolar disorders.

Drawing on empirically tested research and psychodynamic studies, Dr. Quinn will discuss the many ways psychotherapists can help patients and families struggling with bipolar disorder. Seminar attendees will learn why antidepressants and atypical antipsychotics should not form the foundation of treatment for bipolar illness. We will also discuss potent, non-drug treatments for depression, mania, and rapid-cycling that can be put to immediate use.