Bipolar Disorder: A Psychosocial Approach to Treatment

Learn from the expert: Dr. David Miklowitz leads this training reviewing the most current approaches to treating bipolar illness in youth.
About this Event

Live, interactive, Zoom training, 3 Category 1 CEUs*

For licensed mental health clinicians only.

This workshop will explore what is currently known about bipolar disorder in adults and adolescents, with coverage of differential diagnosis, prognosis, and medical and psychosocial treatments. The role of individual, group and family therapies as adjuncts to Medic*tion management will be described. A portion of the seminar will focus on family-focused therapy (FFT), a 12-session evidence-based program that involves psychoeducation, communication enhancement training, and problem-solving skills training for individuals with bipolar disorder and their families. Attendees will become familiar with how to administer the treatment through lecture, videotaped demonstrations, and small group role-play practices.

Learning Objectives:

1. Learn about the similarities and differences between adult bipolar disorder and childhood/adolescent bipolar disorder.

2. Describe family and life stressors that affect the course and outcome of bipolar disorder, how to assess them, and how to target these stressors in psychotherapy.

3. Describe different types of psychotherapy as adjuncts to Medic*tion management for patients with bipolar disorder

4. Describe the three phases of family-focused therapy (FFT) and evidence for its efficacy in adults and adolescents with or at risk for bipolar disorder

Speaker

David Miklowitz, Ph.D. is Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Child and Adolescent Mood Disorders Program at the UCLA School of Medicine. He is a Visiting Professor ofPsychiatry at Oxford University in the UK. His research focuses on family environmental factors and family interventions for children, adolescents and adults with bipolar disorder and youth at high risk for mood disorders or psychosis. His work has helped establish the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions as adjuncts to Medic*tion in the treatment of bipolar disorder. He has presented workshops on family-focused therapy (FFT) throughout the world.

Dr. Miklowitz has received numerous awards for his research and writings, including: Young Investigator Awards from the International Congress on Schizophrenia Research (1987) and the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD) (1987), a Distinguished Investigator Award from NARSAD (2001), the 2005 Mogens Schou Award for Research from the International Society for Bipolar Disorders, the 2009 Gerald L. Klerman Senior Research Investigator Award from the Depressive and Bipolar Support Alliance, and the 2011 Bipolar Mood Disorder Research Award from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation. In 2017, he won the Distinguished Scientist Award from the Society for the Science of Clinical Psychology, and in 2020 the Mood Disorders Research Award from the American College of Psychiatrists, one of only three psychologists to have done so. He has received multiple grants for his research from the National Institute of Mental Health and 10 private foundations.

Dr. Miklowitz has published over 300 peer-reviewed journal articles, 73 book chapters, and 8 books. His book Bipolar Disorder: A Family-Focused Treatment Approach (Guilford), won the 1998 Outstanding Research Publication Award from the American Association for Marital and Family Therapy. His book The Bipolar Disorder Survival Guide, now in its third edition (2019), is an international bestseller with over 350,000 copies in print. His book with Michael Gitlin, Clinicians’ Guide to Bipolar Disorder, won the 2015 best book award from the American Journal of Nursing. His latest book, also with Guilford Press, is called Living Well with Bipolar Disorder: Practical Strategies for Improving Your Daily Life.

*Continuing Education Information

Rathbone & Associates is authorized by the Board of Social Work Examiners in Maryland to sponsor social work continuing education programs and maintains full responsibility for the programs and their content. These trainings qualify for Category I continuing education units. Please contact your state board for verification of reciprocity with other states and professions. In order to receive a certificate, registrants must attend the entire session.

Rathbone & Associates is a sponsor of continuing education credits for psychologists in Maryland under the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Rathbone & Associates maintains responsibility for the program content.