BIPOLAR DISORDER AND COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY E., Miklowitz, D. J., Vajk, F. C. & Frank, E. (1998). Psychosocial treatment for bipolar disorder. In Nathan, P. E. & Gorman, J. M. (Eds.) A guide to treatments that work (pp 241-247). Key points: There were several key points described in this chapter that validated psychosocial treatments. This analysis will only focus on the discussion of the research study that focused on the efficacy of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) for bipolar affective disorder. This chapter discussed a study of twenty-eight people (Cochran, 1984) who received outpatient CBT for a bipolar disorder diagnosis. The study was designed to change the way half of the participants (14) would think and behave so that they would better comply with their medication regime. Fourteen participants received six weekly CBT sessions for one hour, in addition to pharmacological interventions. The other fourteen participants only received the pharmacological intervention (medication only). The result of the study indicated that after treatment and at the six-month follow-up visit, the participants who received both interventions adhered better to their medication regime than those who only received medication. This group had fewer hospitalizations and fewer manic or depressive episodes. There was, however, during the study - no significant difference between the number of relapses (non-compliance with meds) between the groups. An analysis of the evidence of the efficacy of CBT The efficacy of CBT in this chapter was demonstrated by the fact that it helped to stabilize the participants’ moods. Cognitive behavior therapists believe that people’s moods and the way they think and behave are interconnected. In this study, CBT as an intervention helped in changing the way participants thought about their medication. As a result, their behavior changed - they kept taking it as prescribed. Then, by changing th...
