Bipolar disorder is a complex, chronic disease.
Patterns of psychosocial and psychopharmacologic treatment, including conformance with six evidence-based guideline recommendations, were examined for 192 patients with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder in the acute phase of the illness. A fundamental treatment recommendation that bipolar type 1 patients receive a mood stabilizer in the acute phase was studied in-depth. A nationally representative sample of 192 psychiatric patients with bipolar disorder. Most patients in the sample received multiple treatment modalities and a significant proportion did not receive treatment that was consistent with key practice guideline treatment recommendations, including a quarter of the patients in the acute phase of their illness who did not receive a mood stabilizer. Racial and ethnic disparities appear to be a significant problem resulting in lower quality of care for African American and Hispanic patients.