Welcome to DBSA Princeton

We are a mood-disorder self-help support group affiliated with the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA). The mission of DBSA is to improve the lives of people living with mood disorder, and their loved ones.

Group meetings are held every Tuesday from 7:30 pm to 9:15 pm at Lambert House, University Medical Center at Princeton. See our directions page for more information about our location. We also have a Wednesday that is to be discontinued after November 21, 2011.

No pre-registration required. Please see our brochure (Adobe PDF file).

About Our Peer Support Meetings

We start with a "check-in" where members are free to share, or not, how they are doing and raise topics for discussion. Other than giving your first name, you are not required to say anything. We then discuss the topics that were introduced. The discussion is confidential to that particular meeting.

Meetings are led by trained facilitators who run the meeting and participate in the discussion just like any other member. We've been averaging a dozen attendees at our Tuesday meeting, and a half-dozen on Wednesday.

At our meetings, members help each other by sharing their knowledge and experiences. You may or may not feel your issues are addressed at the meeting, but you can still benefit by knowing there are others in similar situations, and from the support of others at the group.

Directions

From Nassau St. in Princeton, proceed down Witherspoon St. Turn right onto Franklin Ave. as you approach the hospital. Lambert House is at the first corner on the left. Ample parking is available on Franklin Ave. as well as in the parking lot across Franklin Ave. from Lambert House. For detailed directions and a map, see our directions page.

Please visit our links page for useful resources.

Our peer group meetings are:

• led by "peer" trained facilitators (peer = other patients with a mood disorder )

• welcome family and friends with or without the person with the mood disorder

• free of charge and no pre-registration required *

• host educational meetings usually with lectures by doctors or other health professionals

• provide literature, including brocures published by the DBSA national organization

• NOT a therapy group led by a mental health professional and do NOT give advice - we just share mutual experiences to educate and support each other.

• Recovery-oriented; we discourage "pity-parties"
   

About Depression & Mania:

Common possible symptoms of depression include:
• changes in appetite
• decreased or increased sleeping
• loss of energy and motivation
• inappropriate or exaggerated feelings of sadness, hopelessness, anxiety, impending disaster or doom
• exaggerated feelings of guilt
• unexplained aches and pains or ailments

Common possible symptoms of mania include:
• impaired judgment
• high energy level and increased activity/talking
• significant decrease in sleeping
• inflated self esteem (grandiosity)
• extreme irritability and/or restlessness

Other symptoms are possible. No one symptom determines the disorder. A psychiatrist or psycho pharmacologist should be consulted for an evaluation.

 

* Donations, to defray costs of ordering brochures, making photocopies and other expenses, are welcome. We do not make a collection during the meeting. You can approach the facilitator if you wish to contribute.

Speakers:

December 13, 2011:

Ask the Doctor with David Nathan, Psychiatrist ( Details )

January 10, 2012:

Food Workshop—How to Stop Stress Eating with Carol Rickard, LCSW ( Details )

March 13, 2012:

 Animal Assisted Therapy with Trish Baker ( Details )