Review of the efficacy of treatments for bipolar disorder and substance abuse.

Source: PubMed, NCBI / U.S. National Library of Medicine

The aim of this study was to provide a descriptive overview of different psychological and pharmacological interventions used in the treatment of patients with bipolar disorder and substance abuse, in order to determine their efficacy. A review of the current literature was performed using the databases Medline and PsycINFO (2005-2015). A total of 30 experimental studies were grouped according to the type of therapeutic modality described (pharmacological 19; psychological 11). Quetiapine and valproate have demonstrated superiority on psychiatric symptoms and a reduction in alcohol consumption, respectively. Group psychological therapies with education, relapse prevention and family inclusion have also been shown to reduce the symptomatology and prevent alcohol consumption and dropouts. Although there seems to be some recommended interventions, the multicomponent base, the lack of information related to participants during treatment, experimental control or the number of dropouts of these studies suggest that it would be irresponsible to assume that there are well established treatments.