About a year into our bipolar journey, I received a referral from a colleague of mine… actually my agent at the time. My agent knew of a doctor at a local university who specialized in bipolar disorder. After going through three or four doctors and seeing very little progress, the “specialist” seemed like the best option. We felt as though we were getting the rock star of psychiatry. We searched the Internet, and this guy’s name was on at least a half dozen journal articles!
It started out alright. We met with the doctor and one of his students. Both seemed very competent, empathetic, and reasonable. They knew their stuff, and were ready, willing, and able to treat my wife and get her back on track. Finally, we had hope!
Shortly after that first meeting, however, the world-renowned psychiatrist disappeared, essentially passing our “case” to the student. A couple months after that, the star pupil disappeared too. My wife had a new grad student in charge of her case… for a couple weeks, after which she disappeared from the radar, too. The doctor in charge never appeared again and was completely incommunicado.
With each change, there was a change in approach, a change in medication, and a change in therapy. After several months, my wife was in worst shape than ever on a medication cocktail from hell.
That’s when we learned the importance of continuity of care. What had happened is that the entire “system” that was in place for treating my wife had crumbled. Nobody was in charge. It was like anarchy was unleashed on my wife, and she and I and our family had to deal with the fallout.
Note: I’m not knocking university psychiatric treatment as a whole. Many people with bipolar disorder and other psychiatric illnesses receive superior treatment at universities, it can be a heck of a lot more affordable than private care, and medical students certainly need some on-the-job training before they launch their own practice. In addition, this same sort of thing can (and does) happen when you’re working with private practitioners.
Fortunately, shortly after this particular crisis, we happened upon a take-charge therapist by the name of Katie Mossman. She understood what was going on and stepped in to make sure every component in the treatment plan worked. She offered my wife individual therapy, acted as our marriage counselor (our marriage was teetering on the brink of collapse), and worked closely with my wife’s new psychiatrist to monitor the medications and make sure we were on the path to mental health and a healthy situation overall.
We didn’t see an immediate improvement, but over the course of several months, my wife’s condition improved, we were getting along as a couple. We were on the mend. After about a year, things were pretty much back to normal.
When you’re in the throws of a major mood episode, you need a steady hand to guide you—a take-charge doctor or therapist who understands bipolar disorder and your situation and can deal with all aspects of your treatment plan—the medications, individual therapy, and family therapy.
Successful treatment requires a coordinated effort. Don’t settle for less.
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