Behavioural Activation for Bipolar Depression (BA-BD): A case series evaluation

If you are aged 18 or over and experiencing depression as part of a Bipolar Disorder then this research study may be of interest:

About the treatment

Bipolar Disorders affect around 2% of the population, with the majority of individuals experiencing relapse, and many experiencing multiple episodes of mania / hypomania and depression over a lifetime. Major depressive episodes, which are experienced by the majority of people with Bipolar Disorders, can last from weeks to months and even years, with potentially severe consequences for the person’s employment, financial situation and relationships.

We are investigating a version of an existing psychological therapy called Behavioural Activation (BA) for people who have depression as part of Bipolar Disorder. BA is an established talking therapy for people with Unipolar Depression, but so far there is very little research into offering BA to people with Bipolar Depression.

This is running as a small scale research study within the AccEPT Clinic at the University of Exeter. We hope that the findings will help us to plan for a larger study to test how effective this therapy approach is.

What does the Therapy involve?

This programme involves up to 20 individual therapy sessions of Behavioural Activation for bipolar depression (BA-BD). Each session will last around 50 minutes, and home practices will be given between sessions. There is an additional “booster” session three months after the therapy finishes.

Everyone who takes part will be asked to complete questionnaires before, during and after treatment. At the end of therapy everyone will also be invited to take part in a more detailed interview to discuss their experiences of the study.

Who is the Therapy for?

We are looking to recruit people who are currently experiencing depression as part of Bipolar Disorder. To take part you must be aged 18 or over.

How can I find out more or take part?

For more information about this study please contact the Mood Disorders Centre on 01392 726449.

This study has been approved by Central Bristol Research Ethics Committee (REC reference: 18/SW/0116; IRAS project ID: 237525)