Maintenance Therapies in Bipolar Disorders

June 21, 2013 updated by: University of Pittsburgh

The purpose of this study is to see if adding a regimen of individualized psychotherapy can help bipolar I patients who are on lithium.

While having a manic or depressed episode patients will be assigned randomly (like tossing a coin) to receive appropriate medication either with or without additional individual psychotherapy. If a patient responds well, he/she will again be assigned randomly to receive further preventative treatment in which medication will be managed either with continued medication clinic visits alone or with additional individual psychotherapy (the patient may not receive the same additional treatment this time). Patient response to treatment will be evaluated throughout the study. If manic/depressive symptoms return at any point during the study, the patient will be treated with appropriate medication and will continue the study.

An individual may be eligible for this study if he/she:

Has Bipolar I disorder, is experiencing a manic or depressed episode at the time of study entry, and is at least 18 years old.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The primary goal of this investigation is to examine the additive prophylactic potential of an individual psychotherapy based on interpersonal and social rhythm principles in bipolar I patients maintained on lithium carbonate (lithium). An adaptation of maintenance interpersonal psychotherapy, this intervention takes into account the specific vulnerabilities, symptoms, and interpersonal problem areas associated with bipolar disorder.

Acutely ill patients in a manic or depressed episode are randomly assigned to either individual psychotherapy or medication clinic visits in addition to appropriate pharmacotherapy (lithium carbonate). Patients who stabilize (HRSD and Bech-Rafaelsen < 7 for four weeks) are then randomly assigned to preventative treatment with either individual psychotherapy or medication clinic visits in addition to pharmacotherapy. Thus, patients in this study receive one of four possible treatment strategies: 1) preliminary phase psychotherapy followed by preventative phase psychotherapy; 2) preliminary phase medication clinic visits followed by preventative phase psychotherapy; 3) preliminary phase psychotherapy followed by preventative phase medication clinic visits in addition to psychotherapy; or 4) preliminary phase medication clinic visits followed by preventative phase medication clinic visits in addition to psychotherapy. Those patients who experience a relapse (during the initial twelve weeks of the preventative phase) or a recurrence (after week 12 of the preventative phase) are treated with appropriate pharmacotherapy and continued in psychotherapy or medication clinic visits as dictated by their original randomization assignment. These patients are then followed for the remainder of what would have been their time in the protocol had they remained well.

Study Type

Interventional

Phase

  • Phase 3

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

N/A

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

-

Patients must have:

Acute bipolar I illness and be experiencing a manic or depressed episode at the time of study entry.

-

Required:

Current treatment with lithium carbonate.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Pittsburgh

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Ellen Frank, PhD

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

June 1, 1997

Study Completion (Actual)

December 1, 2002

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

November 2, 1999

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 2, 1999

First Posted (Estimate)

November 3, 1999

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

June 25, 2013

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 21, 2013

Last Verified

February 1, 2008

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • R37MH029618 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)
  • DSIR AT-CT

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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