[Impact of psychoeducation on the disease concept in bipolar patients]

Aim of the investigation was the proof of influence of specific psychoeducation for bipolar disorder patients and their concept of illness. Additionally we looked in a subsample at the in literature described equal efficacy of peer to peer councelling and councelling by bipolar specialists in psychoeducationIn our investigation on 176 bipolar patients we could show in group psychoeducation that specific group psychoeducation by trained personal and by experts leads to a changed perception of the disorder concept. The participants relied more in medication and trusted doctors and agreed to suffer from a serious disorder. Our results show that the additional factor alcohol consumption abolishes the effect of psychoeducation in bipolar patients.The concept of the disease was only changed in patients without alcohol consumption. This group showed additional decrease of negetive expectancies and had a hopeful attitude regarding the further course of the disorder.In a subgroup where experts (peers) were trained for psychoeducation councelling and performed peer to peer psychoeducational groups we found the same positive changes in the attitude towards the disorder, but there was a significant higher proportion of dropouts in the peer leaded groups.