A nationwide study on concordance with multimodal treatment guidelines in bipolar disorder

Most previous studies on concordance with treatment guidelines for bipolar disorder focused on pharmacotherapy. Few studies have included other treatment modalities.

To study concordance with the Dutch guideline of various treatment modalities in outpatient treatment settings for patients with bipolar disorder and to identity factors associated with concordance.

A nationwide non-interventional study using psychiatrists' and patients' surveys.

839 patients with bipolar or schizoaffective disorder bipolar type were included. Concordance with the guideline was highest for participation of a psychiatrist in the treatment (98%) and for maintenance pharmacotherapy (96%), but lower for supportive treatment (73.5%), use of an emergency plan (70.6%), psychotherapy (52.2%), group psychoeducation (47.2%), and mood monitoring (47%). Presence of a written treatment plan, a more specialized treatment setting, more years of education, and diagnosis of bipolar I disorder versus bipolar II, bipolar NOS, or schizoaffective disorder were significantly associated with better concordance.

In contrast to pharmacotherapy, psychosocial treatments are only implemented to a limited extend in everyday clinical practice in bipolar disorder. More effort is needed to implement non-pharmacological guideline recommendations for bipolar disorder.