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Re:CBT for Bipolar Affective Disorder
Jim Pretzer · 03/10/01 at 8:53 PM ET
The consensus in CBT circles is that Bipolar Disorder generally needs a combined CBT/medication approach, rather than CBT alone. CBT works fine as a treatment for depression when the bipolar individual is depressed but CBT alone does not seem to be as effective in dealing with manic episodes. If a mood-stabilizer is effective in preventing manic episodes (and the client is compliant with their medication regimen), the outcome can be quite good. However, medication is not always as effective as one would wish and non-compliance is often a problem. It probably makes more sense to think of bipolar disorder as a chronic condition and to think of the successfully treated client as being "in recovery" than to think in terms of "cure." While the successfully treated client need not have on-going problems with mood swings, they may well need to keep an eye open for warning signs and to work actively on relapse prevention.
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