Long-term psychotherapy more effective that other treatments of bipolar depression

Psychotherapy for as long as nine months is significantly more effective than short-term treatment for alleviating depression associated with bipolar disease, new research suggests. The drugs used to treat depression are of limited use in treating the repeating depressive episodes of bipolar illness, according to background information in the article, published last week in The Archives of General Psychiatry.

“This is a monumental study,” said Myrna M. Weissman, a professor of psychiatry at Columbia who was not involved in the work. “There are no pharmaceutical companies willing to pay for research in psychotherapy, so we don’t have many clinical trials.” But, she added: “Psychosocial treatment for bipolar illness is not an alternative to medication. It’s a supplement. The authors, one of whom has received grant support and consulting fees from several pharmaceutical companies, found that the median time to recovery for the patients in long-term therapy was 169 days, compared with 279 days for those who received the brief treatment.

The cost of long-term therapy is high, and insurance companies are reluctant to cover it. But according to Dr. Weissman, the cost of not covering it could be higher. “It isn’t just the cost of the therapy. It’s the long-term cost. Bipolar illness has devastating effects on families as well as on the patients themselves.”