The Role of Psychotherapy in the Bipolar Disorders: Dynamic Psychotherapy As an Adjunct to Pharmacotherapy (Ce ARTICLE: 1.0 CE Credit) (Disease/Disorder Overview‪)‬

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] With the increasing awareness that various forms of psychotherapy enhance the effectiveness of mood stabilizers in the treatment of bipolar disorders, it is useful for today's therapists to learn the key factors in the effective psychotherapy with bipolar patients garnered from experience dating back to the pre-lithium days. This paper sets out to describe the unique approaches six patients required to treat bipolar I, bipolar II, and temporary bipolar disorders. The approaches took into account the patients' extreme sensitivities to intrusion on their autonomies and their need to remain in control of the therapy out of fear that their submerged rage would emerge and destroy them or possibly others. The patients' ability to discover their trigger incidents, which stemmed from childhood losses, and subsequent hypomanic episodes proved to be an important element in their ability to master their emotions and behavior. Their treatment curtailed further suicidal attempts, improved their grip on their depressive moods, reduced their impulsivity, and enhanced their interpersonal relations.