This manual attempts to provide simple, adequate and evidence-based information to health care professionals in primary health care especially in low- and middle-income countries to be able to provide pharmacological treatment to persons with mental disorders. The manual contains basic principles of prescribing followed by chapters on medicines used in psychotic disorders; depressive disorders; bipolar disorders; generalized anxiety and sleep disorders; obsessive compulsive disorders and panic attacks; and alcohol and opioid dependence. The annexes provide information on evidence retrieval, assessment and synthesis and the peer view process.

“Robert Post is one of the modern pioneers and towering figures in the investigation and treatment of bipolar illness. This volume is a master class in bipolar disorder.”—Russell T. Joffe, MD, Professor of Psychiatry, New Jersey Medical School. This landmark work, based on years of systematic clinical trials and observations at the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH) and elsewhere, is the definitive clinical resource on patients with difficult-to-treat bipolar disorder. In the most comprehensive compendium to date, Post and Leverich, both veteran clinicians and expert researchers on bipolar disorder, take a broad, long-term view of the illness rather than simply looking at the short-term manic episodes that so traditionally typify the disorder. In doing so, they present and authoritative primer on the life course and treatment of bipolar disorder, including issues of remission, recurrence, and the nuances so critical to effective clinical decision-making in protracted treatment. Presenting over 60 individual case studies covering a broad range of patients and treatment approaches, Post and Leverich equip clinicians with countless examples to draw on when working with patients in their own practices.

This innovative manual presents a powerful approach for helping people manage bipolar illness and protect against the recurrence of manic or depressive episodes. Interpersonal and social rhythm therapy focuses on stabilizing moods by improving medication adherence, building coping skills and relationship satisfaction, and shoring up the regularity of daily rhythms or routines. Each phase of this flexible, evidence-based treatment is vividly detailed, from screening, assessment, and case conceptualization through acute therapy, maintenance treatment, and periodic booster sessions. Among the special features are reproducible assessment tools and a chapter on how to overcome specific treatment challenges.

From leading scientist-practitioners, this volume presents a range of effective psychosocial approaches for enhancing medication adherence and improving long-term outcomes in adults and children with bipolar illness. Authors review the conceptual and empirical bases of their respective modalities--including cognitive, family-focused, group, and interpersonal and social rhythm therapies--and provide clear descriptions of therapeutic procedures. Separate chapters address assessment and diagnosis, analyze available outcome data, and provide guidance on managing suicidality. Offering a framework for clinical understanding, and yet packed with readily applicable insights and tools, this is a state-of-the-science resource for students and practitioners.

Advances in Treatment of Bipolar Disorders provides clinicians with a well-written and timely guide to the most recent advances in the treatment of patients with this complex disorder. Staying abreast of new research developments and treatment options presents a daunting challenge, but the editor and coauthors have compiled the most important evidence-based findings from controlled studies and U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved indications, facilitating integration of these findings into clinical practice. This volume strives to provide clinicians with the necessary information to enable them to balance the likelihood of benefit (using “number needed to treat” analyses) versus harm (using “number needed to harm” analyses) in order to provide individualized, state-of-the-art, evidence-based care. The most current research findings are complemented by the authors’ extensive personal clinical experiences, resulting in a volume that reflects the most up-to-date thinking about the diagnosis and management of bipolar disorder. Advances in Treatment of Bipolar Disorders belongs in every mental health clinician’s library.

Bipolar disorder is a common, complex and costly mental health disorder, which sits at the heart of the practice of clinical psychiatry. Effective treatments (pharmacological, psychological and brain stimulation based) have all been discovered serendipitously. With the huge advances in basic neuroscience the way is now clear for novel treatments to be developed based on brain science. This book reviews these possibilities.