In the last 20 years, there has been a shift in diagnostic patterns with a tendency to diagnose schizophrenia more often than bipolar disorder. Environmental changes have contributed to a decline in the effectiveness of lithium as a treatment. And many bipolar patients are still not receiving proper diagnosis or effective treatments. This book pulls together the current knowledge on bipolar disorders. It aims to provide a summary of clinical research over the last decade on this subject. It covers: research on affective relapse, comorbid psychopharmacology, functional disability and psychosocial outcome in contemporary bipolar disorders; current clinical research findings from leading investigators in the field and practical clinical applications; recent treatment advances and major findings of outcome bipolar disorder; information on treatment outcome based on up-to-date pharmacological approaches, psychosocial interventions and comorbid conditions that complicate the course of bipolar disorder; and treatment outcome data on new pharamcotherapies, psychosocial treatments and services delivery research using naturalistic observations over time.
