This week on Wellbeing we are talking with Dr. Noreen Reilly-Harrington form Harvard University about bipolar disorder. This is the third instalment in our series. Dr Harrington is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Harvard Medical School and an internationally-recognized expert in the cognitive-behavioral treatment of bipolar disorder. She has co-authored several books on the subject including the well-known 2014 book The Bipolar II Disorder Workbook: Managing Recurring Depression, Hypomania, and Anxiety" 

In this episode Dr Reilly-Harrington talks about what bipolar is, why bipolar can take up to eight years to get a diagnosis, how manic episodes differentiate bipolar from standalone depression, how antidepressants alone can cause manic episodes, bipolar in children, how bipolar can impact on a person's relationships with friends and family, the importance of a strong support system for those with bipolar, and how well society understands bipolar.

"Often people with bipolar disorder spend much of their time depressed, so when a person is depressed they may have a very poor recollection of an elevated mood in the past, and so often people who are truly suffering from a bipolar mood disorder might be treated as somebody who has just unipolar depression." - Dr Reilly-Harrington on this episode of Wellbeing

Tune in next week when we talk with bipolar expert Dr Candida Fink.

We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on [email protected]

Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins 
Wellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeing

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.