Resources for Clinicians
What do we mean by ‘evidence-based therapies’ for bipolar disorder?
Here, an “evidence-based intervention” is one that has been shown to improve the symptoms or course of bipolar disorder, or other important outcomes such as wellbeing or daily functioning. This evidence should come, at least in part, from well-conducted, randomised, controlled clinical trials (RCTs).
What are the most used therapies for treatment of bipolar disorder in adults?
The four treatments below are commonly recommended by national guidelines that use a rigorous method for scrutinising the evidence base and generating recommendations (Ravitz et al. 2024).
Please note, the existing evidence base supports the effectiveness of these therapies in addition to usual medication; very little research has looked at psychological therapies as an alternative to medication.
Resources and training for evidence-based psychological interventions
Below are links to sets of resources for each of the four approaches above.
Each set of resources includes the following:
Therapy manuals: details of at least one therapy manual underpinning the approaches. These manuals may be considered "evidence-based" in the sense that they have been used in at least one clinical trial that found evidence for the effectiveness of the therapy.
Clinician training resources: clinician-facing educational websites and modules that could help you understand and apply skills and components from these evidence-based treatments. These do not replace formal training in these approaches, as necessary dependent on your role and location.
Additional resources: these include measures, details of therapy skills, and patient-facing materials such as worksheets, books, and modules.
Click on each resource name to access links
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) Resources