Comparison of meta-cognitive and psycho-educational family therapies on dysfunctional attitudes of bipolar patients

Purpose: Bipolar disorders of complex and multi-dimensional nature necessitate new therapies. This research compared the effect of meta-cognitive and psycho educational family therapy on dysfunctional attitudes of bipolar patients. Materials and Methods: This was a semi-empirical research with pretest-posttest design, using control group. From among the bipolar woman who had referred to psychological hospitals and clinics in Isfahan city in Iran, 24 patients were selected by purposeful sampling and were divided into three equal groups randomly. The first group received meta-cognitive therapy, second group received psycho-educational family therapy and the third group received drug therapy. The data were gathered using semi-structured interview based on diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th edition) criteria and dysfunctional attitudes scale. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and covariance with SPSS 16 software. Results: There was a significant difference between the mean scores of meta-cognitive therapy group compared to drug therapy group (P = .001). Also, there was a significant difference between the mean scores of psycho-educational family therapy and drug therapy groups (P = .001). There was no significant difference between the mean scores of psycho-educational family therapy group compared to drug therapy group (P = .777). Conclusion: Using meta-cognitive therapy with drug therapy increases dysfunctional attitudes in bipolar patients. Therefore it is recommended that therapists be trained in this field.