The purpose of the present study was to examine the
efficacy of family-focused treatment combined with best
practice
pharmacotherapy in improving the symptomatic
course of bipolar disorder in adolescents. We made several
adjustments to the design of our first trial. First, we
examined a larger cohort (N=145) of adolescents with bipolar
I or II disorder recruited shortly after a manic, hypomanic,
depressive, or mixed episode, and we excluded
patients with subthreshold bipolar disorder. Second, study
physicians implemented a standardized medication protocol
supervised by expert pharmacologists. We hypothesized
that adolescents receiving pharmacotherapy and
family-focused therapy would have a more rapid recovery
from an affective episode at study intake (the primary outcome
measure), a longer time to recurrence, and less severe mood
symptoms over 2 years when compared with adolescents
receiving pharmacotherapy and enhanced care