Study on Efficacy of Self monitoring on Relapse in Bipolar Disorder type I

Abstract

Objective: Bipolar Mood Disorder is a chronic relapsing disorder which affects patients’ social and occupational function and quality of life. The aim of study was to determine efficacy of self-monitoring training on relapse in bipolar disorder type I. Method: 70 patients who met the criteria and gave informed consent to participate were randomly allocated to intervention and control groups. While both groups received routine inpatient care, intervention group received additional 20-minute self-monitoring training sessions led by educated psychologists and researcher. After discharge both groups were followed monthly by researcher in outpatient clinic of Razi hospital. They also were given a telephone number to contact researcher if they had any question. At the end of 12 months of follow up, number of relapse of all patients was recorded. Data were analyzed through 16th version of SPSS software. Results: After 12 months while in intervention group 11(31%) patients had at least one episode, about 20(57%) patient in control group experienced an episode of the disease. This difference was statistically significant (P=0.03). Further analysis also revealed a significantly lower relapse rate in intervention group (P=0.028).