At the Family Center, if you have bipolar disorder, or if you have a close other with bipolar disorder, the first step is intake. It typically takes two visits. If you have people close to you who are already involved in your care, or those whom you would like to be involved, you will be asked to participate in our Family Inclusive Treatment program (FIT). If you decide to enroll in FIT, your doctor will interview both you and your close others - to get a complete understanding of your life experiences and history. This doctor will become your Family Psychiatrist.

After the intake, this is what you and your close other can expect:

• Open communication about symptoms, medication, and other aspects of treatment. This means that either the patient, the family/caregiver, and the doctor can, and are expected to, contact each other any time they feel a need to discuss treatment issues. Confidentiality still applies to personal issues not related to the illness.
• Weekly or bimonthly doctor visits for the patient for both medication management and supportive therapy.
• Family sessions geared to educate the patient and family members about bipolar illness and its treatment; how to recognize symptoms, identify triggers and warning signs; and how to communicate openly about them.
• Assessment of the emotional health of caregiver/spouse by the Family Psychiatrist and that of your children on the first visit and periodically thereafter to ensure that all family members are bearing up under the sometimes unavoidable stress.
• Referrals to a family therapist to help with family issues that go beyond the immediate issues of how to deal with bipolar illness.
• Special attention to helping all children understand how bipolar illness can temporarily change the way a parent acts, in conjunction with counseling for the non-bipolar parent on how to protect children from the potentially damaging consequences of a bipolar parent whose illness is not always under control; referral to experienced child psychiatrist if needed.
• Referrals of children with early cognitive, emotional, or behavioral problems for an evaluation and a follow-up to a child psychiatrist.

• Information about the community of bipolar self-help organizations that provide support groups and day treatment programs (The Family Center for Bipolar Disorder is an active proponent of bipolar self-help organizations). Information about home care, entitlements and legal matters, advocacy, etc. See the Resouces page.

For insurance coverage information, see below.

The Family Center for Bipolar Disorder offers evaluations, conducted by a team of professionals for either a diagnosis or a second opinion on treatment.

• If you think that you, or someone you know, has Bipolar Disorder, you can meet with a Family Center psychiatrist for the purpose of diagnosis.
• If you, or someone you know, has been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder but the treatment doesn't seem effective, a Family Center psychiatrist can offer a second opinion on both the diagnosis and treatment.

Inpatient hospitalization on a general psychiatric unit with treatment from a specialist in Bipolar Disorder is available for those in an acute phase of the illness. There are three inpatient units at Beth Israel. The Psychiatry Department publishes full description of inpatient services. In brief:

• The General Psychiatric Unit is primarily an adult service, although it also admits adolescents. A maximum of 33 patients can be treated; ages range from 14 to 64.
• The Geropsychiatry Unit treats patients 65 years of age and older. Maximum patient capacity is 31.
• The Addiction Unit treats those with drug or alcohol abuse disorders who are also suffering from bipolar disorder and other serious psychiatric illness. Drug or alcohol dependence often magnifies the severity of a psychiatric condition and complicates treatment. Withdrawal symptoms are also treated.