Bipolar disorder and family communication: Effects of a psychoeducational treatment program

Family psychoeducational programs are efficacious adjuncts to pharmacothera py for patients with schizophrenic and bipolar disorders, but little is kno wn about what these programs change about families. The authors assessed ch anges in face-to-face interactional behavior over 1 year among families of bipolar patients who received a 9-month family-focused psychoeducational th erapy (FFT; n = 22) or crisis management with naturalistic follow-up (CMNF; n = 22), both administered with maintenance pharmacotherapy. Members of fa milies who received FFT showed more positive nonverbal interactional behavi or during a I-year posttreatment problem-solving assessment than families w ho received CMNF, although no corresponding decreases were seen in negative interactional behaviors. The positive effect of family treatment on patien ts' symptom trajectories over 1 year was partially mediated by increases in patients' positive nonverbal interactional behaviors during this same inte rval.