Long-term treatment of bipolar depression and other issues.

Bipolar disorder is a highly episodic illness, and many patients require long-term or lifelong treatment to maintain a stable mood. Because depression is the dominant pole of both bipolar I and bipolar II disorder, maintenance therapy must prevent depressive recurrence. Although numerous treatment options exist for bipolar disorder, few have data supporting both short-term and long-term efficacy for bipolar depression. When choosing among treatments, clinicians must consider the existing evidence for the long-term effectiveness of various pharmacologic and psychosocial interventions for controlling all types of mood events.