Christopher Schneck, MD: Early Interventions for Bipolar Disorder

There remains significant gaps in treatment for patients with bipolar disorder, particularly when the disease is identified early.

In a presentation during the 2022 Annual Psychiatric Times™ World CME Conference in San Diego on August 12, Christopher Schneck, MD, Professor of Psychiatry, University of Colorado HIV Clinic, talked about how we can improve treatment strategies when bipolar disorder is identified early.

“Really this is thinking about what groups who have not fully developed bipolar disorder can we stage an intervention,” Schneck said. “And thinking about both psychopharmaceutic interventions and psychotherapeutic interventions. There really isn’t much out there in the literature.”

In combat these gaps in care, Schneck said there have been a number of recent studies involving both adult patients with bipolar disorder and pediatric patients as well.

He also said studies have looked at siblings of patients with bipolar disorder.

“The way families interact with each other has a great influence on a child’s developmental process and ultimately the development or not of the mood disorder.”

Schneck said there is a 12 session model for treatment in which he will educate both the patient and families about the illness and how to effectively communicate with each other.