Monitoring pharmacotherapy response, safety, and tolerability to enhance adherence in bipolar disorder.

Among patients with bipolar disorder, treatment nonadherence can be triggered by lack of response or by medication-induced adverse effects. To track treatment response, clinicians can have patients complete daily life and mood charts to provide accurate information over time on patients' mood, adherence, side effects, and life events. Rating scales like the CGI-BP are also an option for assessing treatment response. In addition, clinicians should monitor patients for common side effects related to bipolar depression treatments, such as sedation and weight gain/metabolic abnormalities, which lead to increased medical problems and shortened life expectancy. By implementing specific interventions to address these effects, clinicians can help promote optimal outcomes for patients with bipolar disorder. © Copyright 2014 Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc.