The Effectiveness of Compassion-focused Therapy on Patients with Bipolar Disorder, A Randomized Clinical Trial

Background: Multifarious complications are attributed to the bipolar disorder; while existing treatments are not yet fully effective. In this study we evaluated effects of Compassion-focused therapy (CFT), an integrated psychological technique to include kinder thinking habit. Materials and Methods: This was a randomized trial (IRCT20211206053298N1) on a total of 26 individuals satisfying the diagnostic criteria for bipolar disorder who were allocated in two study arms by simple random allocation method, first receiving both CFT and conventional therapy (n=13) and seconds receiving traditional therapy alone (n=13). Compassion-focused therapy received consisted of ten sessions of CFT in conjunction with the customary treatment. Various psychological constructs, including self-compassion, self-criticism, shame, and distress associated with bipolar disorder were examined at beginning of study, after finishing the sessions, and 2 months later. Data analysis involved using repeated measures analysis of variance (RM-ANOVA) with statistically significant threshold of under 0.05 in SPSS V. 21. Results: There were no differences in educational level, gender, occupation, history of hospitalization, medical illness, and marital status between the study groups (P>0.05). There was a significant difference in trend of changes of studied variables. Intervention group showed a significant sharp decrease in shame (from baseline value of 12.76 +/- 4.38 to 4.46 +/- 7.26 two months later), self-criticism scores (26.61 +/- 6.57 at baseline and 14.76 +/- 5.74 at two-months period), and distress scores (21.0 +/- 2.29 at baseline to 11.75 +/- 2.00 at two- months period) from study beginning to final follow up that also had a more substantial decline than the control group (P<0.05). Both groups showed increased self-compassion score during the time with no differences among their increasing trend (P=0.725). Conclusion: The effect of CFT on the psychological treatment outcomes for individuals diagnosed with bipolar disorder appears to be significant, while it was not as effective on the self-compassion score. So, further studies would be helpful to draw a more precise conclusion.