Maureen Duffy, PhD
Point Of View
Relationships are a central focus area of the Advantage Program and as such putting them "in order" is an important goal. We work with all participants who have direct experience of bipolar to help them face up to any difficulties they might be having in their relationships. We also work with family members and friends to do the same. When relationships are "in order," they can be a source of ongoing support and nurturance for those wanting to live richer, fuller lives. Conversely, relationships that are in "disorder" hold people back from living the lives they want to live.
We help those with direct experience and family members and friends to be accountable for their own actions and reactions in relationships. We help participants imagine the kinds of positive relationships they would like to have with family members and friends and then we help them do the difficult and exciting work of creating those relationships.
Integration With Team
All of the team members share similar values about creating a life worth living. They recognize that achieving Results Worth Striving For is both demanding and inspiring. Team members are there to help you with particular challenges and needs that you may have along the way. The relationships therapist and educator coordinate their services with those of the other providers to insure optimal care and success for you and your family members.
Assessment Process
Assessment is a way of helping people figure out where they are at now--what their baseline positions are--so that it will be clearer and easier to get to where they want to be in the future. During the assessment process, you and your family members' hopes for improved relationships will be the foundation. Assessment is only useful when it can help in the process of problem-solving and change.
Relationship assessment is a tool to help you and your family members identify areas of strength as well as areas with room for growth and development. This process is conducted by a licensed mental health professional specifically trained in relationship, marriage, and family issues.
The relationships assessment is a collaborative process between you and your therapist. What this means is that your relationship therapist is not going to assume the stance of expert and tell you what you need to do. You and your family will be fully involved in the process. Your input and that of your family members is critical to successful relationship assessment.
You and your relationship therapist will work together to assess the quality of your relationships and to identify relationship goals along the following dimensions:
- Communication
- Openness, trust, and honesty
- Anger management, conflict management, conflict resolution, and problem-solving
- Expressions of affection
- Intimacy
- Handling emotion and emotional intensity
- Emotional self-regulation
- Supportiveness and caring within the relationship
- Appreciation for self and others in the family
- Family-centered approach to living and thriving with bipolar
The initial formal assessment process culminates with the development of a specific relationship improvement plan for you and your family. Your personalized plan will help you to map out the necessary changes that will result in more satisfying, deeper, richer, less conflicted relationships that will be a source of nourishment and support for you all. Throughout the treatment phase, assessment will be a continuous process, drawing from the initial formal assessment and adjusted, as needed.
Goal Setting
The relationship improvement plan is the outcome of the process of relationship life planning. Difficulties in any of the relationship dimensions listed above are suggestive of breaks or ruptures in important relationships. Such disruptions are normal and inevitable in all relationships.
The key is learning how to identify and repair those relationship ruptures as quickly as possible. The relationship therapist will work with you to develop relationship goals that are of particular importance to you and your family.
Everyone's relationships are unique so the relationship plan for you and your family members will be individually tailored. Your relationship therapist will assist you in setting goals that are realistic and manageable. Those goals will include a focus on areas in which you experience the most frequent and intense difficulties and ruptures.
Your therapist will help you identify benchmarks by which you can measure progress towards reaching your relationship goals. Your therapist will also help you and your family members assume shared responsibility for achieving these relationship goals. Through goal setting, you and your family will have an understanding of the steps all of you need to take to have better relationships.
Treatment
Relationships can be improved and relationship ruptures can be repaired. People with direct experience of bipolar are not doomed to have diminished relationships and neither are their family members. Participants will learn evidence-based skills shown to improve the quality of relationships between people with direct experience of bipolar and their family members.
General skills that participants will learn include the following:
- Increasing the frequency of positive interactions with each other.
- Decreasing criticism, fault-finding, blaming, and expressions of exasperation.
- Learning how to handle anxiety better through practices of personal self-regulation--staying calm and reacting to situations as thoughtfully and tranquilly as possible.
- Increasing problem-solving behaviors and decreasing panic and intense emotional reactions.
- Setting realistic expectations for one another.
Individualized relationship education and therapy is designed to meet the unique needs of each person with direct experience of bipolar and their circle of family and friends.
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