Psychotherapy for Bipolar II Depression, Pilot Study, Phase II

The proposed pilot study is an experimental design intended to investigate the preliminary efficacy of Interpersonal Social Rhythm Therapy for Bipolar II Depression (IPSRT-BPII). A total of 56 eligible subjects with a diagnosis of bipolar II disorder will be randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups : Seroquel (n=28) or IPSRT-BPII (n=28). Following baseline assessment, all participants will undergo up to 20 weeks of their assigned treatment. Patients assigned to IPSRT-BPII who fail to respond (at least 50% reduction in HRSD-25 scores and YMRS ≤ 10) by week 12 will have Seroquel added to IPSRT-BPII. Subjects who achieve remission (defined as 3 consecutive weeks where both HRSD-25 and YMRS scores average ≤ 7) and have participated in the trial for a minimum of 12 weeks will be moved into a continuation phase where they will receive maintenance treatment (bi-monthly therapy sessions and/or pharmacotherapy) until week 20. Patients who do not achieve remission by Week 20 will be discontinued from treatment and referred for follow-up care. All subjects (remitters and non-remitters) will be assessed at 20 weeks.