Patients who have been hospitalised for unipolar or bipolar disorder have a poor prognosis with highly increased risk of recurrence of episodes and increased risk of psychosocial dysfunction. It seems as integrated prophylactic combined medical and psychological out-patient treatment may lead to a better long-term prognosis in patients with affective disorders in general. It has not been specifically investigated whether such integrated treatment may improve long-term outcome if the intervention is offered early in the course of the affective illness.
Subjects: Patients currently discharged from first, second or third hospitalisation ever from psychiatric department with a diagnosis of severe single depressive episode/recurrent depression or with a diagnosis of manic/mixed episode or bipolar disorder.
Comparison: Early intervention with integrated prophylactic combined medical and psychological outpatient treatment as offered by a clinic for affective disorders compared with standard outpatient treatment as offered by community psychiatric centres, private specialists in psychiatry or general practitioners.
