Objective: Psychoeducation represents a simple support intervention for bipolar and unipolar patients. It is apllied separately in the two populations, although they share many clinical, therapeutic and course of illness aspects. The purpose of this study was to evaluate experimentally, using a sample of outpatient euthymic unipolars and bipolars, both the applicability of a psychoeducational group program as well as its effect on the frequency of the illness in a follow up of 24 months, compared to a standard clinical treatment without psychoeducational intervention. Method: The sample consisted of 42 people (21 unipolar and 21 bipolar) from among the enrolled euthymic patient population diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder and Bipolar I Disorder, as defined by the DSM-IV-TR (American Psychiatric Association 2000) in charge at the Outpatient Center for Mood Disorders, Department of Neuroscience, San Raffaele-Turro Hospital in Milan, Italy. Patients were randomly assigned to either the psychoeducational program or to a standard clinical treatment which continued with their psychiatrist. Each cycle of our experimental psychoeducational program for a mixed unipolar and bipolar patient population lasted five months and included weekly 60-minute therapy sessions. After 24-month follow-up, the two treatment groups were compared with respect to the duration of the euthymia and the incidence of re-hospitalization. Regression analysis was performed (as per the Cox Proportional Hazard Model in the context of survival analysis in order to identify variables predictive of recurrence. Recurrence and subsequent re-hospitalisation rates were used to measure the outcomes. Results: At the end of the 24 month-follow-up, 66,67% recurred. Independent variables contributing significantly to the risk of recurrences were: duration of illness (p=0.03) and participitation in psychoeducational groups (p=0.02). The psychoeducated group showed a lower and later number of recurred patients; a higher percentage of rehospitalization for depressive recurrences in the non psychoeducated group was observed. Conclusions: Based on the results obtained in our study, implementation of a psychoeducational group program for both unipolar and bipolar patients could have a significant preventative effect on the rate of recurrence as well as improve the duration of euthymia with respect to a standard course of treatment.[:]
Category: No 2 - June - 2011
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