Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface
- Part 1 Clinical, diagnostic, and therapeutic aspects of bipolar disorders
- Part 2 Concept and methodology of psychoeducation
- Part 3 Psychoeducation program: sessions and contents
- Unit 1 Awareness of the disorder
- Session 1 Presentation and rules of the group
- Session 2 What is bipolar disorder?
- Session 3 Etiological and triggering factors
- Session 4 Symptoms I:Mania and hypomania
- Session 5 Symptoms II: Depression and mixed episodes
- Session 6 Evolution and prognosis
- Unit 2 Drug adherence
- Session 7 Treatment I: Mood stabilizers
- Session 8 Treatment II: Antimanic drugs
- Session 9 Treatment III: Antidepressants
- Session 10 Plasma levels of mood stabilizers
- Session 11 Pregnancy and genetic counseling
- Session 12 Psycho-pharmacology vs. alternative therapies
- Session 13 Risks associated with treatment withdrawal
- Unit 3 Avoiding substance abuse
- Session 14 Psychoactive substances: risks in bipolar disorders
- Unit 4 Early detection of new episodes
- Session 15 Early detection of mania and hypomanic episodes
- Session 16 Early detection of depressive and mixed episodes
- Session 17 What to do when a new phase is detected?
- Unit 5 Regular habits and stress management
- Session 18 Regularity of habits
- Session 19 Stress-control techniques
- Session 20 Problem-solving strategies
- Session 21 Closure
- Final note: Is psychoeducation efficacious?
- Bibliography
- Index
Session 12 - Psycho-pharmacology vs. alternative therapies
from Part 3 - Psychoeducation program: sessions and contents
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 January 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface
- Part 1 Clinical, diagnostic, and therapeutic aspects of bipolar disorders
- Part 2 Concept and methodology of psychoeducation
- Part 3 Psychoeducation program: sessions and contents
- Unit 1 Awareness of the disorder
- Session 1 Presentation and rules of the group
- Session 2 What is bipolar disorder?
- Session 3 Etiological and triggering factors
- Session 4 Symptoms I:Mania and hypomania
- Session 5 Symptoms II: Depression and mixed episodes
- Session 6 Evolution and prognosis
- Unit 2 Drug adherence
- Session 7 Treatment I: Mood stabilizers
- Session 8 Treatment II: Antimanic drugs
- Session 9 Treatment III: Antidepressants
- Session 10 Plasma levels of mood stabilizers
- Session 11 Pregnancy and genetic counseling
- Session 12 Psycho-pharmacology vs. alternative therapies
- Session 13 Risks associated with treatment withdrawal
- Unit 3 Avoiding substance abuse
- Session 14 Psychoactive substances: risks in bipolar disorders
- Unit 4 Early detection of new episodes
- Session 15 Early detection of mania and hypomanic episodes
- Session 16 Early detection of depressive and mixed episodes
- Session 17 What to do when a new phase is detected?
- Unit 5 Regular habits and stress management
- Session 18 Regularity of habits
- Session 19 Stress-control techniques
- Session 20 Problem-solving strategies
- Session 21 Closure
- Final note: Is psychoeducation efficacious?
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Goal
Many bipolar patients seek the help of alternative treatments (homeopathy, naturopathy, esoteric therapies, etc.) and from parascientific professionals (clairvoyant, spiritual advisors, or healers), in most cases ignoring the differences between the medical treatment of the disorder and the alternative treatments as to evidence and efficacy. The objective of this session is to explain to our patients what this difference is, what steps are followed in a treatment before its approval and why certain supposed alternative therapies do not work in the case of bipolar patients.
Procedure
If there are still patients who volunteer to present their life chart, we will dedicate the first 20–30 min to a couple of cases.
Unlike the previous sessions, in Session 12 we will not start our presentation with an open question to the patients. As most of the general population does not know how the scientific method works and what a clinical study is, we will start by explaining these two issues, and this will allow us to make constant references to the scientific or non-scientific character of a certain treatment during the debate, after presenting the material of the session, without having to interrupt ourselves in order to clarify these terms to our patients.
Based on the material of the assignments, we will facilitate the discussion between patients about the role of alternative therapies in bipolar disorders.
[…]
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Psychoeducation Manual for Bipolar Disorder , pp. 135 - 139Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006