A substantial literature on the effective treatment of bipolar disorder has begun to appear, particularly in the last 20 years. The majority of treatments studied have employed medications, particularly mood stabilizers, atypical antipsychotics and antidepressants. Most treatments produce side effects and medications are no exception. A review of assessment methods used to evaluate side-effect profiles is presented, along with author interpretations of these data in terms of cost and benefits. Additionally, a discussion of the implications for side-effect monitoring and management during short-term versus more long-term treatments is presented with respect to the general and intellectual disability populations. Summaries of relevant drug side-effect assessment practices are presented and future research directions are suggested.