Group psychoeducation for stabilised bipolar disorders: 5-year outcome of a randomised clinical trial.
Br J Psychiatry
; 194(3): 260-5, 2009 Mar.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-19252157
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
The long-term efficacy of psychological interventions for bipolar disorders has not been tested.AIMS:
This study assessed the efficacy of group psychoeducation to prevent recurrences and to reduce time spent ill for people with bipolar disorders.METHOD:
A randomised controlled trial with masked outcome assessment comparing group psychoeducation and non-structured group intervention during 5-year follow-up. One hundred and twenty people with bipolar disorders were included in the study and 99 completed 5-year follow-up. Time to any recurrence, number of recurrences, total number of days spent ill, frequency and length of hospitalisations were the main outcome measures.RESULTS:
At the 5-year follow-up, time to any recurrence was longer for the psychoeducation group (log rank=9.953, P<0.002). The psychoeducation group had fewer recurrences (3.86 v. 8.37, F=23.6, P<0.0001) of any type and they spent less time acutely ill (154 v. 586 days, F=31.66, P=0.0001). The median number of days of hospitalisation per hospitalised participant was also lower for the psychoeducation group (45 v. 30, F=4.26, P=0.047).CONCLUSIONS:
Six-month group psychoeducation has long-lasting prophylactic effects in individuals with bipolar disorders. Group psychoeducation is the first psychological intervention showing such a long-term maintained efficacy in people with bipolar disorders.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Psychotherapy, Group
/
Bipolar Disorder
Type of study:
Clinical_trials
/
Observational_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
En
Journal:
Br J Psychiatry
Year:
2009
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Spain