BACKGROUND: Family therapy is sometimes used as adjunctive treatment to pharmacotherapy to help patients recover from mood episodes of bipolar I disorder. However, the efficacy of this practice is not known. METHODS:Ninety-two patients meeting criteria for a current bipolar I mood episode were randomly assigned to family therapy plus pharmacotherapy, multifamily psychoeducational group therapy plus pharmacotherapy, or pharmacotherapy alone. Time to recovery was analyzed with survival analysis. RESULTS: The proportion of subjects within each treatment group who recovered did not significantly differ, nor did time to recovery. LIMITATIONS: The analyses did not include other outcomes such as psychosocial functioning, prophylaxis against recurrences of mood episodes, or compliance with pharmacotherapy. CONCLUSIONS: Neither adjunctive family therapy nor adjunctive multifamily psychoeducational group therapy significantly improves the rate of recovery from mood episodes of bipolar I disorder, compared to treatment with pharmacotherapy alone.
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BACKGROUND: Family therapy is sometimes used as adjunctive treatment to pharmacotherapy to help patients recover from mood episodes of bipolar I disorder. However, the efficacy of this practice is not known. METHODS: Ninety-two patients meeting criteria for a current bipolar I mood episode were randomly assigned to family therapy plus pharmacotherapy, multifamily psychoeducational group therapy plus pharmacotherapy, or pharmacotherapy alone. Time to recovery was analyzed with survival analysis. RESULTS: The proportion of subjects within each treatment group who recovered did not significantly differ, nor did time to recovery. LIMITATIONS: The analyses did not include other outcomes such as psychosocial functioning, prophylaxis against recurrences of mood episodes, or compliance with pharmacotherapy. CONCLUSIONS: Neither adjunctive family therapy nor adjunctive multifamily psychoeducational group therapy significantly improves the rate of recovery from mood episodes of bipolar I disorder, compared to treatment with pharmacotherapy alone.
Authors: Ivan W Miller; Gabor I Keitner; Christine E Ryan; Lisa A Uebelacker; Sheri L Johnson; David A Solomon Journal: J Clin Psychiatry Date: 2008-05 Impact factor: 4.384