Cognitive-behavioural therapy in the treatment of bipolar affective disorders

Bipolar disorder (BD) belongs to the group of recurrent affective disorders. As biological factors play an important role in its aetiopathogenesis, pharmacology remains the main treatment, while psychotherapy can augment its effectiveness. Psychotherapeutic methods, contributing to BD treatment, such as psychoeducation and family-focused therapy (FFT) have already been used in the treatment of schizophrenia. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) has proved efficacious in the treatment of unipolar affective disorders. Specifically for BD, interpersonal and social rhythm therapy (IPSRT) was developed. All of the aforementioned procedures have proven to be efficacious in augmenting pharmacological treatment.

Cognitive behavioural therapy constitutes a group of well-proven psychosocial interventions for the treatment of anxiety, depressive, personality, and eating disorders as well as for addictions. The aim of this article is to review the literature on the effectiveness of cognitive behavioural therapy in the treatment of bipolar disorder. The majority of studies bring about promising results of the use of CBT in BD. A recent meta-analysis shows that, using CBT results in decreasing frequency of recurrences of the illness, a reduction of intensity of depressive and manic symptoms as well as improvement in psychosocial functioning were seen, although is some studies the results are not unequivocal. In many papers, the necessity of further studies on the use of cognitive-behavioural therapy in BD is emphasised, in order to elaborate definite standards and therapeutic indications as well as better methods to assess its efficacy.