Abstract:
Background
Pharmacological treatments are the principal intervention for bipolar disorder. Alone, however, they are not sufficient to control
symptoms and maintain psychosocial functioning. Adjunctive psychosocial interventions may help to improve the patient’s condition
and the course of the illness. Family interventions are deserving of special attention, since they may help to relieve the burden of care
borne by relatives and caregivers, which in turn may facilitate the task of supporting the patient.
Objectives
The objective of this review was to investigate the effectiveness of family interventions in the treatment of bipolar disorder compared
with no intervention and other forms of intervention.
Search methods
We searched the electronic databases CCDANRCT-Studies and CCDANCTR-References on 1/8/2007, CENTRAL (2006-3), MEDLINE
(2006), EMBASE (2006) and LILACS (2006), and searched the reference lists of included studies. We also made personal
contact with authors.
Selection criteria
We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and quasi-randomised trials. Participants were people with bipolar disorder and their
relatives or caregivers; family psychosocial interventions of any type were considered; primary outcomes were changes in the status of
symptoms and relapse rates.
Data collection and analysis
Data were independently extracted by two review authors. Quality assessment of included studies was carried out. The findings were
presented descriptively. Where there were sufficient studies, dichotomous data were combined using relative risk, and continuous data
were combined using weighted mean difference, with their 95% CIs
