Psychoeducation Manual for Bipolar Disorder

This book is a pragmatic, therapists' guide for how to implement psychoeducation for bipolar patients.

Francesc Colom (Author), Eduard Vieta (Author), Jan Scott (Foreword by)

9780521683685, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 5 October 2006

240 pages, 10 b/w illus.
24.6 x 17.5 x 1.2 cm, 0.48 kg

'Colom and his colleagues in Barcelona urge us to adopt a group psychoeducational approach. This book is a very practical guide to doing exactly that. … The book is peppered with anecdotes about the authors' experience of running the program and dealing with difficulties. … The book is sufficient for those with a thorough knowledge of bipolar disorder to use it as an off-the-shelf course and it lives up to its label as a manual. … I suspect that in my local service, we will be making good use of this book as it appears easily adaptable to a wide range of people with bipolar disorder.' Psychological Medicine

Although the mainstay of bipolar therapy is drug treatment, psychoeducation is a technique that has proven to be very effective as an add-on to medication, helping to reduce the number of all types of bipolar recurrences and hospitalisation. The object is to improve patients' understanding of the disorder and therefore their adherence to pharmacotherapy. Based on the highly successful, evidence-based Barcelona program, this book is a pragmatic, therapists' guide for how to implement psychoeducation for bipolar patients. It gives practical guidance for how to conduct a psychoeducation group, using sessions and cases drawn from the Barcelona Psychoeducation Program. Moreover, it provides the reader with a great amount of practical tips and tricks and specific techniques to maximize the benefits of bipolar psychoeducation. The authors formed the first group to show the efficacy of psychoeducation as a maintenance treatment and have a long history of performing bipolar psychoeducation.

Foreword
Preface
Part I. Clinical, Diagnostic, and Therapeutic Aspects of Bipolar Disorder: Part II. Concept and Methodology of Psychoeducation: Part III. Psychoeducation Program: Unit 1. Awareness of the disorder
Unit 2. Drug adherence
Unit 3. Avoiding substance abuse
Unit 4. Early detection of new episodes
Unit 5. Regular habits and stress management
Final note
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Clinical psychology [MMJ]