Efficacy of an integrative approach for bipolar disorder: preliminary results from a randomized controlled trial

Background. Bipolar Disorder (BD) represents one of the most therapeutically complex psychiatric disorders. The development of a feasible comprehensive psychological approach to complement pharmacotherapy to improve its clinical management is required. The main objective of the present randomized controlled trial (RCT) was to test the efficacy of a novel adjunctive treatment entitled integrative approach in patients with BD, including: psychoeducation, mindfulness training, and functional remediation. Methods. This is a parallel two-armed, rater-blind RCT of an integrative approach plus treatment as usual (TAU), versus TAU alone. Participants were recruited at the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona and randomized to one of the two conditions. They were assessed at baseline and after finishing the intervention. The main outcome variable included changes in psychosocial functioning assessed through the Functioning Assessment Short Test (FAST). Results. After finishing the treatment, the repeated-measures analyses revealed a significant group x time interaction in favor of the patients who received the integrative approach (n=28) compared to the TAU group (n=37) (Pillai’s trace= .10; F(1,57)=6.9 p=.01), improving the functional outcome. Significant effects were also found in two out of the six domains of the FAST, including the cognitive domain (Pillai’s trace=.25; F(1,57)=19.1; p<.001) and leisure time (Pillai’s trace=.11; F(1,57)=7.15; p=.01). Regarding the secondary outcomes, a significant group x time interaction in Hamilton Depression Rating Scale changes was detected (Pillai’s trace= .08; F(1,62)=5.6; p=.02). Conclusion. This preliminary study suggest that the Integrative Approach represents a promising cost-effective therapy to improve psychosocial functioning and residual depressive symptoms in patients suffering from BD. </p

Emotional intelligence: A comparison between patients after first episode mania and those suffering from chronic bipolar disorder type i

Deficits in emotional intelligence (EI) were detected in patients with Bipolar Disorder (BD), but little is known about whether these deficits are already present in patients after presenting a first episode mania (FEM). We sought (i) to compare EI in patients after a FEM, chronic BD and healthy controls (HC); (ii) to examine the effect exerted on EI by socio-demographic, clinical and neurocognitive variables in FEM patients. Methods: The Emotional Intelligence Quotient (EIQ) was calculated with the MayerSalovey-Caruso Intelligence Test (MSCEIT). Performance on MSCEIT was compared among the three groups using generalized linear models. In patients after a FEM, the influence of socio-demographic, clinical and neurocognitive variables on the EIQ was examined using a linear regression model. Results: 184 subjects were included (FEM n=48, euthymic chronic BD type I n=75, HC n=61). BD patients performed significantly worse than HC on the EIQ (Mean Difference MD=10.09, Standard Error SE=3.14, p=0.004) and on the Understanding emotions branch (MD=7.46, SE=2.53, p=0.010). FEM patients did not differ from HC and BD on other measures of MSCEIT. In patients after a FEM, EIQ was positively associated with female sex (β=-0.293, p=0.034) and verbal memory performance (β=0.374, p=0.008). FEM patients performed worse than HC but better than BD on few neurocognitive domains. Conclusions: Patients after a FEM showed preserved EI, while patients in later stages of BD presented lower EIQ, suggesting that impairments in EI might result from the burden of disease and neurocognitive decline, associated with the chronicity of the illness

Alteracions neurocognitives en el trastorn bipolar tipus II: relació amb el funcionament psicosocial i rehabilitació cognitiva

[cat] La recerca en els darrers anys ha demostrat que el pacient amb trastorn bipolar (TB) no està lliure d'afectació neurocognitiva i que aquesta pot tenir una repercussió important en el seu funcionament quotidià. Pel que fa al trastorn bipolar tipus II (TB-II), atès que ha patit una manca d'atenció i durant molt de temps ha estat un subtipus infradiagnosticat, els treballs dirigits a aspectes neuropsicològics han estat escassos amb resultats discrepants i no concloents. Per tant, cal dur a terme estudis centrats en aquesta població específica per tal d'establir de manera adequada el seu perfil neurocognitiu donades les implicacions clíniques i terapèutiques que se'n poden derivar. En aquesta tesi es du a terme una revisió sistemàtica (primer estudi) de la literatura existent per a veure quin és l'estat actual d'aquesta temàtica. A partir d'aquesta s'estableixen les bases per a la recerca posterior, amb l'objectiu de determinar els principals dèficits neurocognitius associats al TB-II avaluant pacients amb criteris rigorosos d'eutímia. Amb el segon estudi es va detectar que els pacients TB-II en remissió presenten un rendiment neurocognitiu inferior als subjectes sans tant en el domini d'atenció com en els de memòria verbal, memòria de treball i funció executiva. En segon lloc s'intentaven identificar possibles predictors del funcionament psicosocial a partir de l'estudi de variables clíniques, sociodemogràfiques i neurocognitives. Es va observar que les disfuncions executives i la presència de simptomatologia subclínica de caire depressiu podrien ser útils com a predictors d'un major deteriorament funcional en aquest grup. Posteriorment, ens varem proposar estudiar si existeix heterogeneïtat neurocognitiva entre aquesta subpoblació amb un tercer estudi. Es va observar que existeixen diversos subgrups amb perfils neurocognitius diferenciats entre els pacients; pacients amb un rendiment neurocognitiu totalment preservat, pacients amb alteracions moderades-greus en tots els dominis cognitius (amb excepció de la memòria verbal amb dèficit lleu) i pacients amb un rendiment intermedi amb alteracions (leus. Més d'un 50% dels pacients TB-II presentaven dificultats neurocognitives. Cap variable clínica relacionada amb la severitat o cronicitat de la malaltia podia explicar les diferències entre subgrups. Aquells pacients amb un rendiment neurocognitiu deficitari global presentaven un QI més baix, un pitjor funcionament psicosocial global i majors dificultats per a realitzar i gaudir de les activitats de lleure. En darrer lloc, cal tenir present que és necessari oferir als pacients un tractament integral de la malaltia on es contemplin també les dificultats neurocognitives i de funcionalitat, oferint, per tant, noves estratègies d’intervenció que permetin millorar aquests aspectes. D’aquesta manera, amb el darrer estudi (quart estudi) s’avaluava l’eficàcia d’una nova estratègia d’intervenció neurocognitiva, la rehabilitació funcional, específicament en un grup de pacients TB‐II també eutímics, valorant l’impacte que aquesta intervenció podia exercir sobre el funcionament psicosocial dels pacients. La rehabilitació funcional va mostrar ser efectiva no només millorant el funcionament general sinó també reduint la simptomatologia subclínica depressiva dels pacients TB‐II.[eng] Patients with Bipolar Disorder (BD) show broad cognitive impairments that persist during euthymia despite remission of mood symptoms. Cognitive deficits in BD are associated with impairments in functional outcome and quality of life. Thus, improving cognitive functioning is an important treatment goal in people with BD. Bipolar II disorder subtype (BD-II) has been underdiagnosed in clinical practice, therefore, many aspects of BD-II are still understudied such as neurocognitive functioning. In the present thesis, a systematic review of literature regarding neurocognition in BD-II was carried out. Then, we assessed a sample of strictly defined BD-II euthymic patients to compare it with a sample of healthy controls (HC) to elucidate the neuropsychological profile of this bipolar subtype. A second objective was to study the relationship between neurocognitive performance and functional outcome. BD-II patients showed a significantly lower performance on several measures of attention, learning and verbal memory, and executive function compared with HC. The presence of subthreshold depressive symptomatology and one measure related to executive function and working memory were the variables that best predicted psychosocial functioning. After that, we attempted to analyse cognitive variability also in a sample of euthymic BD-II patients, using a cluster analysis to provide groups of different neurocognitive patterns. Three clusters were detected: an intact neurocognitive group, an intermediate or selectively impaired and a globally impaired group. Approximately one-half of the patients were cognitively impaired. The 3 clusters statistically differed in the premorbid intelligence quotient, the global functional outcome and leisure activities. The globally impaired cluster showed the lowest attainments concerning these 3 variables, which are considered proxies of cognitive reserve. No differences in other clinical characteristics were found among the groups. Taking all these data into account, it seems necessary to implement therapies focused on enhancing functional outcome in bipolar II disorder patients. Hence, we carried out a subanalysis aimed to assess the efficacy of an intervention called Functional Remediation specifically in a sample of BD-II patients. Our results suggest that the Functional remediation appears to be effective in improving the overall functional outcome in BPII, as well as in reducing subclinical depressive symptoms