Updates in Bipolar Disorder Treatment

Join Julie Carbray, PhD, APRN, clinical professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, as she delves into the recent advancements and emerging therapies in bipolar disorder treatment. Dr Carbray emphasizes that managing bipolar illness goes beyond symptom control, shares valuable tips for clinicians on staying updated with the latest evidence-based approaches, and notes the importance of centering patients' quality of life in treatment. 

Dr Carbray discussed these topics and more at Psych Congress 2023 in Nashville, Tennessee. Register for this year's Congress in Boston, Massachusetts, from October 29 to November 2 on the meeting website. And keep an eye out for more insights and updates in our newsroom. 

Read the Transcript: 

Psych Congress Network: What recent advancements or emerging therapies are you particularly excited about?

Julie Carbray, PhD: When we're treating persons with bipolar illness, it's not just about symptom control. It's also about their ability to work, their ability to care for their health and their ability to mitigate adverse effects that really can impair their everyday functioning. So we want for patients to keep working, to keep feeling like they can exercise and tend to their wellness. Sometimes our medications get in the way of that. It's exciting to think that we have new technologies and new medications to help patients with their overall functional impairment due to their illness beyond symptom control. I think as mental health providers, it's important for us to always recognize that our ability to help persons with bipolar illness is not just about symptom reduction, it's also about their ability to work, to have meaningful relationships and their overall ability to function across their life. And these newer products are giving us more hope that we can see that for our patients and to have them re-engage in their life in meaningful ways.

Psych Congress Network: How can clinicians stay updated with the latest evidence-based approaches in BD management, considering the evolving nature of available treatment options? 

Dr Carbray: The field of treatments for persons with bipolar disorder is rapidly shifting. It's very exciting. There are more data points coming out, informing us as clinicians about options that we have, both from a psychopharmacologic standpoint and from psychotherapies. It's important that you stay abreast of some of the new data coming out—that really helps us to help our patients have those meaningful functional lives that we all hope to help them to achieve. So it's important that you stay tuned to networks like Psych Congress Network that will keep you abreast of new studies that are coming out. If you belong to a professional organization, assuring that you get up to date articles that come out on bipolar disorder and certainly belonging to listservs that address this population will help you stay abreast of the latest technologies coming out.

You might want to find a mentor too, somebody who you trust and value that can help discuss new treatments with you. Help to imagine cases that might respond to different approaches that are newer and emerging, and help you to think critically about new studies that come out and whether or not that might be something relevant to your patient today or later on down the pike. So collecting a respected mentor colleague and having resources at your fingertips, and even including resources like the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, will help you to stay connected to what's important in the overall comprehensive treatment and care for your patients with bipolar illness.

Julie A. Carbray, PhD, PMHNP-BC, PMHCNS-BC, APRN, is a clinical professor of psychiatry and nursing at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Dr Carbray holds her PhD (93) and Master of Science (88) degrees from Rush University, Chicago, and her Bachelor of Science (87) degree from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.