Effect of Psychoeducational Group Therapy Model for Bipolar Disorder Patients

This study aims to develop the MAPS(M,Monitoring;A,Assessing;P,Preventing or Reducing Relapse;S,Smart goal setting) group therapy model for bipolar disorder patients as other adjuvant clinical treatment and develop the instruments for evaluating the severity of bipolar symptoms. The investigators insist to provide the psychosocial intervention for bipolar patients in the general hospital and offer appropriative adjuvant intervention except current psychiatric biological treatment.

This study is a one-year project. First, the investigators like to translate the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS) and the Altman Self-Rating Scale for Mania (ASRM) to Chinese and finish the reliability and validity study. Second, the investigators would like to develop the MAPS group therapy to enhance bipolar patients' insight, increased life quality and decrease suicidal ideation. This study is a case control study. All cases recruit from the psychiatric outpatient department of one medical center. The inclusion criteria are diagnosed as bipolar disorder, age from 18 to 65 and agree to sign the inform consent. The excluded criteria are hard to communicate, with acute psychiatric feature and severe physical illness. The investigators plan to hold the MAPS group three times and predetermine to recruit totally 30 patients as the case group. As to the control group, the investigators also recruit from the psychiatric outpatient department and those who treat as usual by control their gender, age and the same diagnosis as bipolar disorder. The only one different factor between the case group and the control group was attending the MAPS group therapy or not. In MAPS group therapy, two facilitators work with ten clients with twelve weekly sessions and three monthly booster sessions. Self-report rating scales (DASS and ASRM) are completed at the beginning of each session. The investigators use DASS and ASRM to evaluate the severity of bipolar symptoms; BSS for suicidal ideation; SF-36 for life quality. The hypothesis is "patients attended to MAPS group therapy have better symptoms control, lower suicidal ideation, better life quality and less use emergency department or admissions than those who didn't attend the group therapy".