Systematic Reviews
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Psychiatr. Dec 19, 2021; 11(12): 1407-1424
Published online Dec 19, 2021. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v11.i12.1407
Psychoeducation in bipolar disorder: A systematic review
Juliana Lemos Rabelo, Breno Fiuza Cruz, Jéssica Diniz Rodrigues Ferreira, Bernardo de Mattos Viana, Izabela Guimarães Barbosa
Juliana Lemos Rabelo, Breno Fiuza Cruz, Izabela Guimarães Barbosa, Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Medical Investigation–School of Medicine, UFMG, Belo Horizonte 30130-100, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Juliana Lemos Rabelo, Breno Fiuza Cruz, Jéssica Diniz Rodrigues Ferreira, Bernardo de Mattos Viana, Izabela Guimarães Barbosa, Programa de Extensão em Psiquiatria e Psicologia de Idosos, UFMG, Belo Horizonte 30130-100, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Breno Fiuza Cruz, Bernardo de Mattos Viana, Izabela Guimarães Barbosa, Department of Mental Health, School of Medicine, UFMG, Belo Horizonte 30130-100, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Author contributions: Barbosa IG designed the research study; Rabelo JL and Barbosa IG performed the research, analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript; Cruz BF and Viana BM revised the analysis and wrote the manuscript; Ferreira JDR contributed to the discussion.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There is no conflict of interest.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Izabela Guimarães Barbosa, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Mental Health, School of Medicine, UFMG, 190 Alfredo Balena Avenue, 281 Room, Belo Horizonte 30130-100, Minas Gerais, Brazil. izabelagb@gmail.com
Received: March 3, 2021
Peer-review started: March 3, 2021
First decision: June 5, 2021
Revised: June 11, 2021
Accepted: November 13, 2021
Article in press: November 13, 2021
Published online: December 19, 2021
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

The bipolar disorder (BD) treatment is challenging, and there is some evidence that non-pharmacological interventions promote effects in the treatment of acute mood episodes and maintenance treatment. Psychoeducation is an intervention strategy based on providing patients and/or relatives with information about the disorder to enhance their understanding and enable early identification of warning signs and mood changes, improving treatment adherence, and have showed some results in order to help the BD treatments.

Research motivation

Even using adequate drug strategies, BD is characterized by high rates of occurrence of mood episodes, number of hospital admissions, and a progressive impairment. We aimed to summarize the best evidence of psychoeducation in the treatment of BD, considering patients and their family members.

Research objectives

This systematic review aims to investigate the role of psychoeducation in BD in patients and in their family members.

Research methods

A systematic search of original studies on psychoeducation with patients with Bipolar Affective Disorder and their families was carried out using Medline, Scopus and Lilacs databases. A data extraction table was created based on the Cochrane model and the methodological quality of the studies was assessed according to the criteria of the Newcastle-Ottawa scale.

Research results

Psychoeducation applied to BD patients and their relatives is associated with a reduction in the frequency of new mood episodes and a reduction in the number of hospital admissions and length of stay. Psychoeducational interventions applied to patients contribute to improvement in pharmacological treatment adherence, although the same effect it is not observed when applied to relatives. Psychoeducation does not seem to influence the severity of depressive or manic symptoms or functionality.

Research conclusions

Psychoeducation as an adjunct strategy to pharmacotherapy has been shown to be effective in the treatment of Bipolar Affective Disorder.

Research perspectives

To systematize the effectiveness of psychoeducation intervention on BD patients and family members.