David J. Miklowitz, PhD, is Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, and Visiting Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom. He is author of The Bipolar Disorder Survival Guide and Living Well with Bipolar Disorder, for general readers, and several award-winning books for professionals, including Bipolar Disorder: A Family-Focused Treatment Approach. Dr. Miklowitz has published over 300 scientific articles and 70 book chapters. He has won Distinguished Investigator awards from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, the International Society for Bipolar Disorders, and the Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology. Dr. Miklowitz is one of the few psychologists to have received the Award for Research in Mood Disorders from the American College of Psychiatrists.

I. Bipolar Disorder and Families: Clinical and Research Background

1. Bipolar Disorder: Why Family Treatment?

2. The Nature of Bipolar Disorder and Its Impact on the Family

3. Family and Social Factors in the Course of Bipolar Disorder

II. Conducting Family-Focused Treatment

4. Planning the First Encounter

5. The Functional Assessment

6. Family Psychoeducation: The Initial Sessions

7. Family Psychoeducation: Etiology, Treatment, and Self-Management

8. Family Psychoeducation: Dealing with Resistances

9. Communication Enhancement Training: Rationale and Mechanics

10. Communication Enhancement Training: Clinical Issues

11. Dealing with Family Problems

12. Managing Crises in Family-Focused Treatment

13. Termination