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Bipolar quality of life has been measured in many ways but, in my experience, doctors tend to look at it like this: you can make your rent, you eat, you bathe – good enough.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I consider this extremely insulting. I mean, if doctors only measured their own quality of life in that way I think they would find that they had no “quality of life” at all. They really should understand that there is so much more to life than merely eating, showering and paying your rent.
Additionally, I feel that measuring quality of life in bipolar is important to truly see where you treatment is working and where it may be falling down and can be improved.
So, the researchers at CREST.BD (a collaborative research team put together to study the psychosocial issues in bipolar disorder) have developed a much more holistic view of bipolar quality of life and have even developed a tool to measure your own quality of life with bipolar. It’s really quite amazing and it was created with the input of real people with bipolar. They break bipolar quality of life down into 13 areas:
To measure your quality of life with bipolar disorder, all you have to do is sign up, take a short survey (it doesn’t take long to complete) and then the system outputs your results in graph and numeric forms.
My results from the bipolar quality of life tool was this:
As you can see, the quality of life satisfaction levels are measured from 4-20 and I scored a 20 on nothing. I could have told you my quality of life wasn’t great before using the tool, but this tool has helped me to identify the exact areas of life that could use improvement.
The bipolar quality of life tool also has a letter for you to provide to your doctor along with your results so that you can discuss them and determine how you can make things better. The system will also track your quality of life over time so you can see where you’ve improved.
But CREST.BD didn’t stop there. CREST.BD is also providing everyone with oodles and oodles of evidence-driven resources that can help you improve your quality of life with bipolar in their Bipolar Wellness Centre. The videos, webinars and other materials are divided up into the 13 areas seen above; so, if you’re like me, and feel your physical quality of life is poor, you can go and just see resources for that area of quality of life.
What CREST.BD does truly is ground-breaking and all their tools have been created with major input from people with bipolar disorder. This is not an academic exercise, this is something that can really help real people and real bipolar quality of life. I highly recommend you check these tools out.
* Note: I have no formal affiliation with CREST.BD but do, genuinely, think they’re great.
Natasha Tracy is an award-winning writer, speaker, advocate, and consultant from the Pacific Northwest. She has been living with bipolar disorder for 26 years and has written more than 2000 articles on the subject.
Find more of Natasha’s work in her acclaimed book: "Lost Marbles: Insights into My Life with Depression & Bipolar" on Amazon.
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I just discovered this site yesterday. It is great. Go directly to the for professional part. So many great tools and resources. Read the research article. I felt like I had come home.
Ia there any books that you guys suggest that I can read up on Bipolar please? Thanks
Another great post! This is a great assessment tool. Thank you so much for brininging it to my attention.
Did I miss on the website where it shared how they derived the thirteen categories??
Okay. Ignore me. And for anyone else who couldn’t find the info right away, here it is: http://www.bdwellness.com/Support-Tools/Evidence-Library
This is so heartening to hear about. I feel very despondent at times that because I am seen as ‘high functioning’ and am meds compliant The fact I am miserable and hopeless most days is not seen as a problem. I have asked my pdoc if I shouldn’t be feeling better by now but feel pessimistic that anything will/can be done to help. On paper I am working p/t and present myself in a a tidy and coherent manner. The fact that I am unable to enjoy or participate in my own life (apart from earning a wage to support my family) seems like it is irrelevant. This research and the resultant tools offers me hope. Than you for sharing.
yes, it is interesting to note that spirituality is a domain covered in our bipolar quality of life scale. Our research suggests that spirituality and/or religion are important for some people with BD, but not all. For those it holds meaning for, it can be a particularly important source of community and support. Of course, many of us have spiritual faith, of some sort, just not in the context of formal religious practice. You can read more on this here: http://www.crestbd.ca/religion-and-spirituality-in-the-context-of-bipolar-disorder-a-literature-review/
This is great! Thanks!
I agree. That’s how my sister is assessed. Pitiful. No wonder all of you have bad days. As long as they get the $290 that’s all matters my sister says. I am not making light of it as it is frustrating for me also. Doctor’s just don’t give a darn anymore. Epitome of a physician would be a miracle. Have a great weekend.
The movie version of Touched by Fire by Jamieson will be released in February. You may want to look at the fascinating Charlie Rose interview with Jamieson, the director, and the lead actor – they speak about quality of life. I think you should be able to stream it.
This is actually great. Funny how it includes spirituality too ain’t it? So I guess it’s not something that doesn’t help AT ALL NOT A BIT, let’s spit venom on it :p
I have bit problem with messiness being viewed as symptoms rather than lifestyle choice (there are only so many hours a day and I prefer to spend them differently than running around with a duster and organizing).
I noticed I replied to lot of the questions objectivelly (I feel I can do whatever I want to because of my access to human rights rather than having anything to do with illness, I don’t feel save based on things that happened to people I know recently, again, nothing to do with my illness and so on).
I do like this source though. Seems to be very comprehensive and focused on the patient and their well being rather then making them complient and “not a problem anymore” for others.
Excellent resource!