A review of psychotherapy as add-on treatment to pharmacotherapy for bipolar disorder

Bipolar disorder is a complex illness that makes its treatment challenging. Pharmacotherapy is the foremost remedy, however not all patients benefit from medication alone. Therefore, there are increasing studies to develop various psychotherapy approaches to enhance the treatment outcome. This study...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Tay, Lay Pheng, Hassan, Siti Aishah
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Medwell Journals 2014
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/36258/1/A%20review%20of%20psychotherapy%20as%20add-on%20treatment%20to%20pharmacotherapy%20for%20bipolar%20disorder.pdf
_version_ 1796972875187486720
author Tay, Lay Pheng
Hassan, Siti Aishah
author_facet Tay, Lay Pheng
Hassan, Siti Aishah
author_sort Tay, Lay Pheng
collection UPM
description Bipolar disorder is a complex illness that makes its treatment challenging. Pharmacotherapy is the foremost remedy, however not all patients benefit from medication alone. Therefore, there are increasing studies to develop various psychotherapy approaches to enhance the treatment outcome. This study presents a systematic review of literatures on the psychotherapy approaches as add-on treatment to pharmacotherapy. Among literatures relevant to psychotherapy for bipolar disorder, four common approaches have been identified as adjunct to pharmacotherapy; namely cognitive-behavioral, family-focused, interpersonal and social rhythm and psychoeducation, literatures that discussed comprehensively and structurally across these approaches with evidence-based studies were tabulated to provide a detailed view of the treatment effects for each approach. The needs for using psychotherapy in treating bipolar disorder are clarified through the factors in medication limitation, functional recovery and models of onset and relapse in the illness. Further, discussion involves treatment effects for each identified approach in every tabulated literature and differences in effectiveness relating to various aspects of the illness and treatment condition. This study concluded positively on the benefits of using the four identified psychotherapy approaches for patients with bipolar disorder. The effectiveness of each approach varies under different contexts for different aspects of the illness. Suggestions are provided for future studies.
first_indexed 2024-03-06T08:34:47Z
format Article
id upm.eprints-36258
institution Universiti Putra Malaysia
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-06T08:34:47Z
publishDate 2014
publisher Medwell Journals
record_format dspace
spelling upm.eprints-362582015-12-29T12:50:14Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/36258/ A review of psychotherapy as add-on treatment to pharmacotherapy for bipolar disorder Tay, Lay Pheng Hassan, Siti Aishah Bipolar disorder is a complex illness that makes its treatment challenging. Pharmacotherapy is the foremost remedy, however not all patients benefit from medication alone. Therefore, there are increasing studies to develop various psychotherapy approaches to enhance the treatment outcome. This study presents a systematic review of literatures on the psychotherapy approaches as add-on treatment to pharmacotherapy. Among literatures relevant to psychotherapy for bipolar disorder, four common approaches have been identified as adjunct to pharmacotherapy; namely cognitive-behavioral, family-focused, interpersonal and social rhythm and psychoeducation, literatures that discussed comprehensively and structurally across these approaches with evidence-based studies were tabulated to provide a detailed view of the treatment effects for each approach. The needs for using psychotherapy in treating bipolar disorder are clarified through the factors in medication limitation, functional recovery and models of onset and relapse in the illness. Further, discussion involves treatment effects for each identified approach in every tabulated literature and differences in effectiveness relating to various aspects of the illness and treatment condition. This study concluded positively on the benefits of using the four identified psychotherapy approaches for patients with bipolar disorder. The effectiveness of each approach varies under different contexts for different aspects of the illness. Suggestions are provided for future studies. Medwell Journals 2014 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/36258/1/A%20review%20of%20psychotherapy%20as%20add-on%20treatment%20to%20pharmacotherapy%20for%20bipolar%20disorder.pdf Tay, Lay Pheng and Hassan, Siti Aishah (2014) A review of psychotherapy as add-on treatment to pharmacotherapy for bipolar disorder. Research Journal of Medical Sciences, 8 (3). pp. 99-108. ISSN 1815-9346; ESSN: 1993-6095 http://www.medwelljournals.com/abstract/?doi=rjmsci.2014.99.108
spellingShingle Tay, Lay Pheng
Hassan, Siti Aishah
A review of psychotherapy as add-on treatment to pharmacotherapy for bipolar disorder
title A review of psychotherapy as add-on treatment to pharmacotherapy for bipolar disorder
title_full A review of psychotherapy as add-on treatment to pharmacotherapy for bipolar disorder
title_fullStr A review of psychotherapy as add-on treatment to pharmacotherapy for bipolar disorder
title_full_unstemmed A review of psychotherapy as add-on treatment to pharmacotherapy for bipolar disorder
title_short A review of psychotherapy as add-on treatment to pharmacotherapy for bipolar disorder
title_sort review of psychotherapy as add on treatment to pharmacotherapy for bipolar disorder
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/36258/1/A%20review%20of%20psychotherapy%20as%20add-on%20treatment%20to%20pharmacotherapy%20for%20bipolar%20disorder.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT taylaypheng areviewofpsychotherapyasaddontreatmenttopharmacotherapyforbipolardisorder
AT hassansitiaishah areviewofpsychotherapyasaddontreatmenttopharmacotherapyforbipolardisorder
AT taylaypheng reviewofpsychotherapyasaddontreatmenttopharmacotherapyforbipolardisorder
AT hassansitiaishah reviewofpsychotherapyasaddontreatmenttopharmacotherapyforbipolardisorder