Treatment-resistant bipolar depression: a randomized controlled trial of electroconvulsive therapy versus algorithm-based pharmacological treatment.

Objective: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is regarded by many clinicians as the most effective treatment for treatment-resistant bipolar depression, but no randomized controlled trials have been conducted, to the authors' knowledge. They compared efficacy measures of ECT and algorithm-based pharmacological treatment in treatment-resistant bipolar depression.

Method: This multicenter, randomized controlled trial was carried out at seven acute-care psychiatric inpatient clinics throughout Norway and included 73 bipolar disorder patients with treatment-resistant depression.

Occupational outcome in bipolar disorder is not predicted by premorbid functioning and intelligence.

Objectives: Bipolar disorder (BD), over the long term, can manifest a variety of outcomes depending on a number of different conditions. There is a need for further knowledge regarding preventive factors as well as predictors of the disabling course of the disorder. Studies regarding the impact on functional outcome of premorbid and current general intellectual function [intelligence quotient (IQ)] and premorbid functioning in BD patients are sparse.

Despite clinical differences, bipolar disorder patients from acute wards and outpatient clinics have similar educational and disability levels compared to the general population.

Background: The aims of this study were to compare clinical characteristics and educational and occupational functioning in two Bipolar Disorder (BD) samples recruited respectively from acutely admitted inpatients and public outpatient clinics and to investigate if the two BD samples differed in the same way in education and work ability from the general population.

Methods: DSM-IV BD patients were consecutively recruited from acute wards throughout Norway (N=252; 69.8% BD I; 25.

Bipolar disorder patients have similar levels of education but lower socio-economic status than the general population.

Background: There is conflicting evidence regarding the educational level and its importance for social and occupational functioning in bipolar disorder (BD). The aim of this study was to investigate how educational achievement relates to function in BD compared with the general population, and which clinical factors are associated with level of education.

Methods: Hospitalized patients with DSM-IV BD (N=257; 69.