This review shows a beneficial effect of EWS in time to recurrence , percentage of people hospitalised and functioning in people with bipolar disorder .
BACKGROUND Recurrence rates for bipolar disorder are high despite effective treatments with mood stabiliser drugs .
Self-help treatments and psychological treatments that teach patients to recognise and manage early warning symptoms and signs ( EWS ) of impending manic or depressive episodes are popular with patients .
The main aim of such interventions is to intervene early and prevent bipolar episodes , thereby increasing the time to the next recurrence and preventing hospitalisation .
OBJECTIVES To compare the effectiveness of an EWS intervention plus treatment as usual ( TAU ) versus TAU ( involving and not involving a psychological therapy ) on time to manic , depressive and all bipolar episodes ( the primary outcome ) , hospitalisation , functioning , depressive and manic symptoms .
Relapse prevention in patients with bipolar disorder: cognitive therapy outcome after 2 years.
OBJECTIVE In a previous r and omized controlled study , the authors reported significant beneficial effects of cognitive therapy for relapse prevention in bipolar disorder patients up to 1 year . This study reports additional 18-month follow-up data and presents an overview of the effect of therapy over 30 months . METHOD Patients with DSM-IV bipolar I disorder ( N=103 ) suffering from frequent relapses were r and omly assigned into a cognitive therapy plus medication group or a control condition of medication only . Independent raters , who were blind to patient group status , assessed patients at 6-month intervals . RESULTS Over 30 months , the cognitive therapy group had significantly better outcome in terms of time to relapse . However , the effect of relapse prevention was mainly in the first year . The cognitive therapy group also spent 110 fewer days ( 95 % CI=32 to 189 ) in bipolar episodes out of a total of 900 for the whole 30 months and 54 fewer days ( 95 % CI=3 to 105 ) in bipolar episodes out of a total of 450 for the last 18 months . Multivariate analyses of variance showed that over the last 18 months , the cognitive therapy group exhibited significantly better mood ratings , social functioning , coping with bipolar prodromes , and dysfunctional goal attainment cognition . CONCLUSIONS Patients in the cognitive therapy group had significantly fewer days in bipolar episodes after the effect of medication compliance was controlled . However , the results showed that cognitive therapy had no significant effect in relapse reduction over the last 18 months of the study period . Further studies should explore the effect of booster sessions or maintenance therapy
This review shows a beneficial effect of EWS in time to recurrence , percentage of people hospitalised and functioning in people with bipolar disorder .
BACKGROUND Recurrence rates for bipolar disorder are high despite effective treatments with mood stabiliser drugs .
Self-help treatments and psychological treatments that teach patients to recognise and manage early warning symptoms and signs ( EWS ) of impending manic or depressive episodes are popular with patients .
The main aim of such interventions is to intervene early and prevent bipolar episodes , thereby increasing the time to the next recurrence and preventing hospitalisation .
OBJECTIVES To compare the effectiveness of an EWS intervention plus treatment as usual ( TAU ) versus TAU ( involving and not involving a psychological therapy ) on time to manic , depressive and all bipolar episodes ( the primary outcome ) , hospitalisation , functioning , depressive and manic symptoms .