Psychotherapy Improves Outcomes for People with Bipolar Disorder
Studies have shown that therapy can be helpful for people with bipolar disorder. In a 2016 article in the British Journal of Psychiatry, researchers led by M. Oud described the findings of their systematic review of studies evaluating different types of therapy for bipolar disorder. The research team reviewed the findings of 55 randomized controlled trials of psychotherapeutic interventions that included a total of 6,010 adult participants with bipolar disorder. The team found moderate-quality evidence that psychological interventions reduced relapses following treatment, and that collaborative care reduced hospital admissions for adults with bipolar disorder. Oud and colleagues found lower-quality evidence that group interventions reduced depression relapses following treatment, and that family psychoeducation reduced symptoms of depression and mania.
The reseachers concluded that there is evidence that therapy can be helpful for people with bipolar disorder. Since some of the evidence was of low quality, more research is needed to identify the most effective therapies for different phases of bipolar disorder.
Editor’s Note: The data are clear that therapy is helpful. In particular, one approach worth emulating is that described in an article by Lars V. Kessing and colleagues in the British Journal of Psychiatry in 2013. They found that comprehensive care in an outpatient mood disorder clinic, which included psychotherapy, psychoeducation, mood monitoring, and drug treatment, reduced relapses significantly compared to treatment as usual.
Collaborative Care and Education Reduces Bipolar Depression
There is increasing evidence that patients with bipolar disorder benefit from special programs or clinics designed to teach them skills to cope with their illness. A 2015 article by Trijntje Y.G. van der Voort and colleagues in the British Journal of Psychiatry evaluated the effectiveness of a Dutch program that provided collaborative care to people with bipolar disorder.
One hundred thirty-eight patients in an outpatient clinic were randomized to receive either treatment as usual or a program of nurse-provided collaborative care that included psychoeducation, problem-solving treatment, systematic relapse prevention contracts, and monitoring of outcomes. These services were managed by mental health nurses. Those patients who received collaborative care had significantly less time with depressive symptoms at the 6-month and 12-month marks, and less severe depressive symptoms at 12 months (all findings with p values less than .01).
There was no significant difference in manic symptoms or treatment adherence. The authors suggest that collaborative care improves treatment for people with bipolar disorder, especially depression, which is most closely linked to impaired quality of life and disability.
Editor’s Note: Given this study and about a dozen others like it, it is time to conclude that psychoeducation and other components of collaborative care noted here are critical to the long-term management of bipolar disorder. Patients and their family members should insist that this be a part of routine care.
Specialty Treatment for First Episodes of Psychosis Effective
A study published online in the journal Psychiatric Services comparing a specialty clinic that provides medication, family education, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), and case management to improve employment and educational outcomes with treatment as usual for people in a first episode of psychosis found that the specialty treatment was associated with fewer and shorter hospital stays and better vocational engagement during one year of follow-up.
Most participants were referred to the study from inpatient psychiatric units. Those randomly assigned to receive treatment as usual typically did so in outpatient treatment settings. Those randomly assigned to the specialty treatment group joined the Specialized Treatment Early in Psychosis (STEP) program at the Connecticut Mental Health Center, where they could choose from any of the available interventions.
Other studies have found that comprehensive intervention encompassing psychoeducation, family therapy and other services can reduce psychotic symptoms. The authors of this study, Vinod H. Srihari and colleagues, concluded that a US public-sector model of early intervention in psychotic illness could be both feasible and effective.
Editor’s Note: In the British Journal of Psychiatry in 2013, Kessing et al. demonstrated even more dramatic and persistent benefits (for at least 6 years) of 2 years of specialty clinic care versus treatment as usual for patients with a first hospitalization for mania (many of whom were also psychotic). Together these two articles indicate the extreme importance of getting off to a good start in the management of major psychiatric illness. Such specialty programs are desperately needed for better management of childhood-onset mania.