The main finding was that psychoeducation
appears to be effective in preventing any, and
manic/hypomanic, relapse in bipolar disorder, with
less certainty for depressive relapse. The findings
were robust with regard to assumptions about
dropouts, given that the effect must lie between
those found in the conservative and optimistic ITT
analyses; however, caution is required because of
the limited number of studies analyzed and their
heterogeneity. Limiting analysis to group psychoeducation
reduced study heterogeneity for any
relapse, increased the sizes of effect, and showed efficacy also in preventing depressive relapse. The
sparse data comparing psychoeducation with specific
psychotherapies suggest equal efficacy in preventing
any relapse occurring but possibly a
poorer illness or symptom course compared with
CBT or FFT. As measured by intervention completion,
psychoeducation appears to have comparable
acceptability to control interventions,
including specific psychotherapies.