Background: The working alliance plays an essential role in the treatment of patients with different diseases. However, this variable has received little attention in patients with bipolar disorder. Therefore, this systematic review aimed to examine the working alliance's influence on these patients' treatment outcomes, analyze its role in the adherence to pharmacotherapy, and identify the variables that are related to a good working alliance.
Methods: PubMed, PsycINFO, and Web of Science databases were searched until January 5, 2018 using a predetermined search strategy. Then, a formal process of study selection and data extraction was conducted.
Results: Seven articles fulfilled the inclusion criteria and they included a total of 3,985 patients with bipolar disorder type I and II. Although the working alliance's ability to predict the duration and presence of manic and depressive symptoms is unclear, a good working alliance facilitates the adherence to pharmacological treatment. In addition, good social support for patients is associated with a strong working alliance.
Limitations: The selected studies used different definitions and measures of the working alliance and adherence, and most used self-reports to assess the working alliance. Furthermore, the relationships found among the variables were correlational.
Conclusions: The working alliance can play an important role in adjunctive psychological therapies and in pharmacological and somatic treatments for patients with bipolar disorder. However, the number of studies on working alliance in bipolar disorder is rather limited and there is methodological heterogeneity between the studies.
Keywords: Bipolar disorder; Patient outcome; Systematic review; Treatment; Working alliance.
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