Functional Remediation for Bipolar Disorder

University of Michigan

Status: Completed

Conditions: Bipolar Disorder

Treatments: Other: Functional Remediation

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03403179

HUM00113668

Details and patient eligibility

About

Bipolar Disorder is a major mood disorder with periodic mood episodes that may be very distressing, both to the individual and to others. When ill, the person is at particular risk for disruptions to social and occupational functioning, physical health, and even premature death. When not in an episode, individuals with BD may still be feeling well but have ongoing neurobiological processes, as well as the psychological sequelae from illness episodes, that can lead to subtle neurocognitive impairment that impedes overall functioning. This study is a test of an existing, published intervention that ameliorates deficits in functioning in euthymic bipolar individuals.

Enrollment: 30 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 55 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• diagnosis of bipolar I or II disorder (BD), as determined by a structured diagnostic interview
• at least three months of clinical remission (euthymia or minimal symptoms), based on the phone screen assessing mood episodes in the prior three months
• score greater than 11 on a measure of everyday functioning (FAST; described in measures section) indicating at least mild impairment
• use of a standard bipolar mood-stabilizing medication at the same, adequate dose (according to CANMAT treatment guidelines) for at least 3 months prior to screening, with ability to continue that dose during the study.

Exclusion criteria

• history of neurological illness or injury (e.g., stroke, brain tumor)
• documented intellectual disability
• inability to provide written informed consent
• substance dependence within last 3 months or substance abuse in last 30 days
• inability to complete the six-month intervention
• received ECT in the past 12 months

Trial design

Primary purpose: Other

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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30 participants in 1 patient group

Receiving Psychosocial Intervention

Experimental group

Description:

Functional Remediation: The functional remediation program consists of 21 weekly sessions, each lasting 90 min. This intervention addresses neurocognitive issues such as attention, memory and executive functions, but it focuses even more on enhancing functioning in daily routine. The content of the intervention is based on ecological tasks to be performed in two settings, in the clinic as well as at home. Participants will be trained with exercises for memory, attention, problem solving and reasoning, multitasking and organization in order to improve their functional outcome. Most of the techniques are based on paper-and-pencil tasks and group activities.

Treatment:

Other: Functional Remediation