Psychosocial interventions in bipolar disorder: a review.

INTRODUCTION

Multiple psychosocial interventions for bipolar disorder have been proposed in recent years. Therefore, we consider that a critical review of empirically validated models would be useful.

METHODS

A review of the literature was conducted in Medline/PubMed for articles published during 2000-2010 that respond to the combination of "bipolar disorder" with the following key words: "psychosocial intervention", "psychoeducational intervention" and "psychotherapy".

RESULTS

Cognitive-behavioral, psychoeducational, systematic care models, interpersonal and family therapy interventions were found to be empirically validated. All of them reported significant improvements in therapeutic adherence and in the patients' functionality.

CONCLUSIONS

Although there are currently several validated psychosocial interventions for treating bipolar disorder, their efficacy needs to be specified in relation to more precise variables such as clinical type, comorbid disorders, stages or duration of the disease. Taking into account these clinical features would enable a proper selection of the most adequate intervention according to the patient's specific characteristics.