[Interpersonal psychotherapy and social rhythm therapy for bipolar II disorder: treatment development and case...

Bipolar II (BP II) disorder is a common, recurrent, and disabling psychiatric illness. Individuals suffering from this disorder comprise a large segment of the outpatient mental health treatment population, and yet little is known about how best to manage it. Psychotherapy, although untested in this population, represents a potentially important treatment modality for individuals suffering from this disorder. Because BP II disorder is characterized by subsyndromal, non-psychotic, episodes of mania (hypomania), there are no clear contraindications to the use of psychotherapy as monotherapy in BP II disorder (in contrast to BP I disorder where the risk of mania makes medication the sine qua non of treatment). In addition, unlike medication, psychotherapy has the potential to help patients address the multiple psychosocial problems associated with this chronic illness. Thus, an effective psychotherapy for BP II disorder may provide an appealing alternative for patients, especially for those who prefer to avoid the risks and discomfort associated with current pharmacotherapeutic options. Interpersonal and social rhythm therapy (IPSRT), a treatment combining a behavioral approach to increasing the regularity of daily routines with interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT), has demonstrated efficacy BP I disorder when in combination with medication. The current report gives brief overviews of BP II disorder and IPSRT, describes the process of adapting IPSRT for the treatment of BP II disorder, and then presents a series of vignettes based on our experience using IPSRT as monotherapy for the acute treatment of BP II depression. We argue that IPSRT warrants further systematic study to formally assess its efficacy as a treatment for BP II disorder.